2026 · SSRN
Rooted Expansion: A Circular Societal Framework for Values-Coherent Global City Growth
Introducing the Circular Belonging Framework (CBF). A. Krahé Schaeflein, SSRN, 11 May 2026.
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The Film
Unmute for narration
The Gap
Every decision is measured by financial return. None of them measure whether people belong.
The gap is not a shortcoming. It is the opportunity: to measure the thing every long-term outcome quietly depends on.
60–70%
of people globally are open to leaving their current city or employer.
BCG Global Mobility Report, 2023
Belonging
Hospitality already proved it: people return to where they feel they belong.
Before it is measured or discussed, belonging is felt. The Circular Belonging Framework takes that instinct beyond hospitality, into how organisations, places and societies are designed. Belonging is infrastructure: measurable, replicable, transformative.
An Established Lineage
Four years of research. Two published papers. One framework.
2022
RHSROI Framework
Warwick Business School
2022–2026
Four Years of Research
Field, academy, application
2026
Circular Belonging Framework
SSRN, May 2026
What Changes
Once belonging is measurable, every decision gets a second, equally legitimate lens.
Financial Return
Long, well counted, still necessary.
Social Return
Now equally legible, equally weighed.
Financial return, and social return, together, not instead. Every feasibility study, masterplan and strategy can now weigh both.
From first adopter to global standard.
No country has yet adopted Social Return on Investment (SROI) as part of its GDP. Yet across the world, exceptional initiatives are creating social value in isolation.
To unleash their full potential, we need a common language, shared measurement and national adoption.
Practitioners
Hundreds of organisations, foundations and businesses are leading change. Often in silos.
Initiatives
Powerful local solutions are delivering measurable social impact. But not systematically linked.
Opportunity
A standardised approach to SROI can connect, compare and scale impact — and integrate it into economic decision-making.
A New Economic Layer
GDP measures economic output. SROI measures the social value that makes economies resilient, innovative and inclusive. It is time to measure what truly drives prosperity.
Connect
Bring initiatives together under a shared framework.
Compare
Standardise metrics to enable benchmarking and learning.
Scale
Identify what works and build the conditions to scale it.
Integrate
Embed social value into policy, investment and GDP decisions.
Transform
Unlock a new era of prosperity for people, places and planet.
Circular Belonging Framework
One methodology. Four verticals: Estate, Cultural, Civic, Commons.
Vertical 1
Estate
Rooted in land. Productive by design.
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Vertical 1
The Productive Estate
Peri-urban five-star boutique hotel on working agri-estate. Cultural Steward Academy. Artist Residence. Surplus supply chain to all verticals.
Tap to return
Vertical 2
Cultural
Hospitality as cultural transmission.
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Vertical 2
The Cultural Residence
Underutilised privately held villas and estates as single-party, culturally hosted stays. UHNW guests. Hotel management agreement model. Asset-light.
Tap to return
Vertical 3
Civic
Civic infrastructure. Social return. Long-term impact.
Tap to reveal
Vertical 3
The Civic House
Cultural onboarding of new arrivals at all income levels. Patron-hosted and AI-matched.
Tap to return
Vertical 4
Commons
Shared spaces. Shared value. Shared future.
Tap to reveal
Vertical 4
The Commons
Movement, wellness, culture and food community ecosystem. Neighbourhood anchoring at every income level. No price barrier. Commercially self-sustaining.
Tap to return
The Initiative
In formation, by design.
Six pillars, already underway.
Research
Four years of research. Two papers. One framework.
Anne Krahé Schaeflein
Executive MBA with Distinction, Warwick Business School. Researcher and founder, working at the intersection of civic belonging, economic development and social value.2022 · Warwick
Can Permaculture-Thinking Provide Social Entrepreneurs with Tools to Aid Long-Term Regenerative Movement in Hospitality?
Introducing the RHSROI Framework. Executive MBA thesis, 6 June 2022. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20733312
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A Permanent Endowment
Capital built to outlast any one initiative, partnership or cycle.
This is institutional design, not a fundraising target. Through the Foundation, this research becomes global standards, accreditation and practical implementation, embedding belonging as civic, organisational and economic infrastructure.
Read the Governance PaperJoin Us
The Foundation is in formation. That is exactly when your part matters most.
Circular Belonging
The path becomes the mark.
From soil, to path, to circle. The film's closing sequence is the Foundation's promise: rooted expansion, values-coherent growth, measurable impact.
What gets measured gets built. This measures what belonging is worth.
social return for every $1 invested in wellbeing.
illustrative GDP contribution, at scale.
Progress has long been measured by financial performance alone.
Environmental measures widened that view.
Social Return on Investment completes it, recognising the human conditions that make long-term value possible.
Belonging is the mechanism that converts social capital into measurable value, generating ripple and multiplier effects far beyond the original investment. Quantifying that chain as SROI gives funders, districts and governments a common metric for what was previously only felt: that belonging-led regeneration drives institutional resilience and, at scale, national prosperity.