The Human Development Overlay District (HD-OD) is a new initiative that integrates human capital, social capital, and community planning through the innovative use of information technology in rapidly changing neighborhoods and communities. In March 2008, the Environmental Simulation Center (ESC) conducted a nationwide solicitation from which they selected four pilot communities to participate. Each community is either undergoing or about to be impacted by large-scale development change:

• Chinatown, Boston, MA: Development pressure from neighboring downtown Boston including Parcel 24, a redevelopment site created by the Big Dig.
• Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA: International-scale museum development, Community Redevelopment Authority, LA’s ongoing master planning initiatives.
• Frogtown/Rondo Neighborhoods, Saint Paul, MN: Central Corridor Light Rail Transit.
• Astoria, OR: Downtown Planning and rezoning process by the City of Astoria.

Representatives of each community convened in New York in June 2008 for a kickoff conference at the Ford Foundation lead by the ESC and featuring leading experts in the fields of social services, small business and job development, real estate, and public health.

The HD-OD is premised on the idea that physical place and the people who live there are inextricably interrelated and must be planned for together. However, human capital providers, physical planners, and communities often struggle to work together, particularly in shifting sands communities – communities undergoing rapid change due to major development projects, infrastructure investments, public policy and regulatory actions, or other pressures. Recent advances in information technology, particularly decision support systems utilizing multiple data sources and virtual reality and 3D environments, represent an untapped resource with great potential to address these needs. An integrated process of active engagement between all major constituencies can be facilitated by the innovative use of these IT resources.

Constituents include the proponents of the catalytic projects and policy change; the broader community including its institutions and organizations that foster social cohesions, and the local vulnerable population, typically comprised of low income residents, renters, small businesses, and the elderly. HD-OD’s focus on the vulnerable populations is part of an effort to engage those people most directly affected by the catalytic projects and/or policy changes reshaping the community but who very often, due to lack of ready access to relevant and understandable information, do not fully benefit from development initiatives. Human development interventions, through individual human capital plans, will be initiated and coordinated with physical development plans through HD-OD.