Amenities like walking paths, shade structures, and rain gardens contribute so much more to a site than pure aesthetics. And yet, referring to them as 'amenities' often leaves them defenseless in favor of line items related to 'infrastructure' when value engineering tries to make a vision fit the budget. This designation is explored by Jarah V. Jacquay of strategic planning firm Virtuous Cycle LLC in a blog post published through Charter of the New Urbanism (CNU).

 
The author makes the claim that infrastructure like highways provide tangible, measurable metrics to assess utility while their negative impact on heat, noise, pedestrian mobility, and other areas is largely invisible. Through various case studies from Pensacola, Florida - the author's home turf - Jacquay shows how elements like bike lanes, restored creeks, and sidewalks with tree canopy seem ineffective on their own yet provide value spanning multiple categories that is largely noticed when these elements are absent.

The problem, according to Jacquay, is that while these elements create valuable infrastructure with far-reaching effects, they often do not qualify for financial support from the institutions that fund public infrastructure. However, the author claims that this is more a matter of perception than reality. At the Pensacola Bay Living Shoreline project - a project designed with lesser-valued amenities in mind from the very beginning - Jacquay points out that "Heavy equipment and engineered shoreline structures make the intervention easy to recognize as infrastructure during construction. Once vegetation and habitat mature, the same investment is more easily mistaken for 'nature' or an amenity."

In addition to providing various examples of financial incentives and community development designed to combine overt and hidden infrastructure, Jacquay proposes ways to consider 'amenities' as infrastructure earlier in the design process, with ways to concretely measure them through construction and activation. He closes by saying, "The case for shade, marsh, and connected streets has largely been won on the merits. It has not yet been written into the forms."

To read the full article, go to: https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2026/09/21/amenities-or-infrastructure-who-gets-decide

As seen in LASN magazine, October 2026.