Investors are familiar with the virtues of traditional infrastructure, such as transportation networks and utilities, which are vital to sustain any metropolis. And “social infrastructure,” such as hospitals, universities or workforce housing — or even key cultural amenities, including parks, museums or entertainment venues — have come to the fore in the investment community in more recent years.

However, seeking yields yet reduced relative risk, more investors are also venturing into other less-prominent social infrastructure sectors that are also necessary to a city or nation’s health, such as gasoline stations, cemeteries and funeral homes. Even assets such as fish farms are being considered in response to wider socioeconomic and global uncertainties.

Due to their property-centric characteristics, social infrastructure assets have been known to blur the lines with real estate, begging questions about how they should be classified in investor portfolios. So