Defining Soft Assets

This chapter continues the review of the literature on describing soft assets and approaches to value creation used in the private sector. It also examines how soft assets are evaluated in previous research and explains how five soft asset capital components and nine key core value creation elements can be used to develop a qualitative tool to identify how soft assets are integrated into smart, resilient city development. Five soft asset capitals are people/human capital, institutional capital, external capital, technology/information capital, and social capital. Nine key core values are the nine soft asset value elements are selected as follows: (i) resource management: (ii) accessibility (mobility); (iii) health and well-being; (iv) equal access to services; (v) smarter services; (vi) community engagement; (vii) quality communication; (viii) security; and (ix) resilience. Analysis is made on different approaches used by the public sector to manage and measure soft assets to create value, including defining intangible assets and outlining different tools used for measuring their performance. The review becomes a basis for analyzing how and why soft assets drive value for cities, what assets are involved, and identifying the key components of, and the specific tools used for, identifying soft assets integration.