New Social Capital Measurement Framework Now Live

A new National Social Capital + Social Infrastructure Measurement Framework and mapping tool has been launched — offering a practical way to measure and visualise connection, belonging and community strength.

Developed by the Resilient Ready Social Capital team, the online platform includes a downloadable framework and interactive mapping tool designed to support place-based planning and decision-making.

For engagement practitioners across Australia and New Zealand, this is worth exploring.

Why It Matters for Engagement Practice

Engagement professionals regularly work at the intersection of infrastructure, planning and community wellbeing. Yet social capital — trust, connection, participation and networks — can be difficult to measure consistently.

This framework provides:

• A structured approach to measuring social capital.

• Indicators linked to social infrastructure.

• A national mapping tool to visualise community strengths and gaps.

It offers language, data and structure to support conversations that many practitioners are already having — particularly in resilience, urban growth, infrastructure and disaster recovery contexts.

From Insight to Action

Social capital is often described as intangible.

Tools like this aim to make it visible.

For practitioners designing engagement processes, advising on infrastructure or contributing to policy reform, having access to shared indicators and mapping data can strengthen evidence-based decision-making — and help articulate the value of community connection in concrete terms.

Ready to explore it for yourself? 

Download for free here.