Social Equity in the Built Environment
LEED Credits
LEED explicitly promotes socially-responsible practices by means of its Social Equity Pilot Credits, developed by the LEED Social Equity Working Group. The pilot credits are designed to address social equity from the perspective of everyone who is touched or impacted by a building—including.
Social Equity within the Community
This credit encourages a project team to address identified needs and disparities in the community surrounding the project. It outlines a process of engagement with communities and allows certification through established frameworks such as the SEED Evaluator.
Social Equity within the Project Team.
This credit encourages a project’s owners, financiers, architects, engineers and contractors to incorporate social equity into their daily activities by paying prevailing wages, providing workforce development or demonstrating corporate social responsibility.
Social Equity within the Supply Chain
This credit encourages social equity for those involved in the production of materials and products for our buildings, rewarding the establishment of supplier assessments and Supplier Codes of Conduct that address basic human rights.
These pilot credits now feature the option to submit a project-specific Alternative Compliance Path (ACP). The ACP approach allows more varied types of social actions to be considered and rewarded, such as:
- Housing types and affordability
- Visitability and universal design
- Design for Accessibility
- Community outreach and involvement
- Green training for contractors, trades, operators and service workers
- Prevention through Design
- Local food production
- Integrative Process for Health Promotion
The LEED Project Team Checklist for Social Impact offers a framework to help identify social and economic considerations to determine effective strategies for enhanced social impact. (Have feedback? tells you what you need to know to get started.
Many USGBC communities and partners have implemented the Advance Campaign:
Project Haiti: The William Jefferson Clinton Children's Center. When the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 left hundreds of thousands of children in need of care, the combined efforts of USGBC and partners lead to the grand opening of the William Jefferson Clinton Children's Center.
Case Studies
A few LEED certified buildings and other innovative projects around the world are already leading the way, demonstrating the value of inclusive and equitable green building practices. Here we explore examples and point to additional case study collections.
WSU Elson Floyd Cultural Center Social Equity Case Study
Town Hall Apartments Social Equity Case Study
Softtek Social Equity Case Study
Dahlia Campus for Health and Well-Being Social Equity Case Study. Learn more about this project on their
Explore more by filtering for "Green" and "Case Study" online platform:
- Case Study: Social Equity in the Built Environment
- Energy Democracy: Advancing Equity in Clean Energy Solutions
- The Well-Tempered Community
- Diversifying Urban Design
- Breaking Barriers: Social Equity within the Supply Chain
- Life Cycle Safety: Basics and Connections to Sustainability
- Virtual tour of the Habitat for Humanity LEED Platinum Zero Energy Depot Neighborhood
- Building a Green Veterans network
- Fair Play: Social Equity Within The Project Team
- The New Work Force and Why Sustainability is Important to Them
- Understanding EcoDistricts
- LEED Pilot Credit Prevention through Design (PtD) Background & Requirements
For additional educational opportunities, visit Education @USGBC and search “equityâ€.
External online courses:
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- reflects upon how student can take to help alleviate air pollution. Spanish version is (Haas Institute)
- (BuildingGreen)
- (Architect Magazine, AIA)
- Guidance for U.S. EPA EJSCREEN Tool
- (PolicyLink)
- (Enterprise Community Partners)
- LEED v4 Impact Category and Point Allocation Process Overview
Education & Awareness
LEED Social Equity Working Group* Reading & Watch List
- Editors. about the Social Equity Working Group.