Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a global nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI aims to help its members and their partners build more equitable, sustainable, healthy and resilient communities.
Abbreviation
ULI
1936
Land use think tank and research institute
2001 L Street NW
Diane Hoskins, Global Chair
Ron Pressman, Global CEO
ULI was founded in 1936 and currently has more than 48,000 members.[1][2] About 28 percent of ULI members are real estate developers, 10 percent are service providers such as architects and consultants, 10 percent are from the public sector, 13 percent represent sources of capital such as investors.
ULI focuses on best practices in real estate development, housing, transportation, and related topics. The Institute provides technical assistance in communities via advisory panels, hosts conferences, produces reports, collects and shares industry benchmarks and guidance, and offers learning opportunities and courses.
ULI currently has 52 District Councils or local chapters in the Americas, as well as 7 National councils in Europe and Asia. The Institute’s Product Councils are groups of senior industry leaders. District and Product Councils that facilitate learning and sharing.
The Institute is governed by a Global Board of Directors, made up of member volunteers. The board is currently headed by the Global Chairman, Gensler co-CEO Diane Hoskins, appointed in May 2023 to succeed Peter Ballon.[3][4] The organization is led by Global CEO Ron Pressman.[5][6] Prior to Pressman, the position was held by W. Edward (Ed) Walter, former Steers Chair in Real Estate at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and CEO of Host Hotels and Resorts, Inc.[7]
History[edit]
1936–1949[edit]
ULI was founded during the Great Depression on December 14, 1936 as the National Real Estate Foundation for Practical Research and Education, with the intention of becoming a research and education college in real estate and "urbiculture."[8][9] In 1939 the organization changed its name to the Urban Land Institute, two years after establishing its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.[10]
ULI held its first conference in 1941, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.[11] A year later, ULI established itself as an advocacy organization with the publication of "Outline for a Legislative Program to Rebuild Our Cities."[10] That same year, the institute relocated its headquarters to Washington, DC.
In 1944, ULI's first Product Council, the Community Builder's Council, was organized focusing on suburban building issues facing post-World War II American cities.[12] The institute's Advisory Services program was established in 1947, conducting its first panel for the city of Louisville, Kentucky.[13]
1950–1979[edit]
The 1950s marked the establishment of the J.C. Nichols Foundation (which later evolved into the ULI Foundation)[14] as well as the Institute's first shopping center costs study.
ULI continued to move towards becoming a more research-focused institution during the 1960s, establishing its first research program in 1960. The Institute would conduct a number of multiyear comparative land use studies and begin spreading their influence abroad by holding its first international meeting for sustaining members in Mexico City in 1965.[15] In 1965, ULI held its first international meeting for sustaining members in Mexico City.[16] Two years later, in 1967, the Community Builder's Council hosted ULI's first European study tour.[17]
In 1970, the Urban Land Research Foundation (later called the ULI Foundation) was created[18] to "help meet the rising need for an expanding more accessible body of development information."[19] In 1979, ULI established the ULI Awards for Excellence program.[20][21]
1980–1999[edit]
ULI created its regional District Council program in 1983, starting with seven councils in various U.S. cities.
UrbanPlan, the Institute's second high school program, was created with the help of a grant award from the National Geographic Society Education Foundation. In 1992, the Institute created its first two European National Councils for the cities of London and Barcelona.
The ULI Senior Resident Fellows program was established in 1996. That same year, the first ULI Mayor's Forum was held with the intention of creating a venue for city officials and the private sector to meet and seek solutions to urban problems.[22]
2000–Present[edit]
In 2000, the ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development was established[23] and the number of ULI District Councils grew to 39, expanding to Europe, Asia, and South America as National Councils. A year later, in 2001, ULI opened its first European office in Brussels, Belgium. That same year, the first Young Leaders group was established by the ULI Houston District Council. A majority of the other District Councils have a Young Leaders group by 2005, and ULI opened its first Canadian District Council in Toronto, Ontario that same year.
The European office relocated to London and founded the Community Action Grant program in 2004. In 2007, the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing was created in addition to the opening of a ULI office in Hong Kong. By 2008, ULI membership would exceed 40,000. That same year, ULI created the ULI Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use along with the launch of the Urban Investment Network in Europe.[24] In 2011, the National Building Museum announced ULI as the 2012 Honor Award recipient for its years of dedication to leadership in urban planning and developing sustainable communities.
In 2012, ULI absorbed the Greenprint Foundation (now known as ULI Greenprint), a global alliance of real estate owners and developers which uses benchmarking and knowledge sharing to help the industry cost-effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[25]
In 2014, ULI and the National League of Cities entered a partnership to jointly guide the direction and operations of the Rose Center for Public Leadership, helping expand its work and influence to a wider audience of city officials.[26] The partnership ended in 2019.[27]
In 2015, ULI established the Building Healthy Places program, which focuses on intersections between health, social and racial equity and the built environment.[28][29]
Centers and Initiatives[edit]
ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing[edit]
The Terwilliger Center for Housing integrates ULI’s housing activities into a program of work with three objectives: to catalyze housing production, attainability, and equity; to advance best practices in housing development practice and related public policies through industry leading research; and to broaden and deepen support for housing solutions among critical stakeholders and the public.[49] The Center is supported by a $10M gift from longtime member and former ULI chairman, J. Ronald Terwilliger.[49]
The Terwilliger Center’s activities include developing research, publications, and other practical tools to enable housing production; engaging with members, housing industry leaders, and other critical stakeholders in housing development; a housing awards program recognizing industry best practices and innovations and effective public policies; and an annual housing conference. Research includes the annual Home Attainability Index, which is a resource for understanding the extent to which a housing market is providing a range of choices attainable to the regional workforce.[50]
The Terwilliger Center also runs ULI’s Homeless to Housed program, an initiative to identify and implement best practices and effective solutions for addressing the needs of unhoused populations. It is funded by philanthropist and entrepreneur Preston Butcher, and was launched in Summer 2022 with the release of the research report “Homeless to Housed: The ULI Perspective Based on Actual Case Studies”.[51][52] The program will help communities develop and implement strategies to address homelessness through conducting research, promoting collaboration, providing technical assistance through ULI’s network of district councils, and sharing knowledge and expertise.[51]
ULI Center for Real Estate Economics and Capital Markets[edit]
In 2009 the institute founded the ULI Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate. The center hosts an annual capital markets and real estate conference, where it convenes industry practitioners, experts and economists.[53] The center also publishes a semiannual Real Estate Consensus Forecast.[54][55][56][57] In addition, since its founding, the center has assumed responsibility for partnering with PricewaterhouseCoopers to publish its annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate report.[58][59]
Established in 2009, the Center includes and spotlights the expertise and experience of senior ULI members through one-on-one interviews and surveys.[60]
ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate[edit]
The Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate, formerly known as the ULI Center for Sustainability, was launched in 2014 to promote healthy, resilient, and energy efficient development.[61] It houses ULI’s Building Healthy Places Initiative, the Urban Resilience program, and the Greenprint Center for Building Performance.[62][63] The Building Healthy Places Initiative focuses on improving the health of people and communities in development.[62] The ULI Urban Resilience program provides ULI members, the public, and communities across the United States with information on how to be more resilient in the face of climate change and other environmental vulnerabilities.[64][65]
The ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate, formerly known as the ULI Center for Sustainability, was launched in 2014 to promote healthy, resilient, and low-carbon development and communities.[61] The center was renamed in January 2022 to honor real estate developer Randall Lewis after he donated $10 million to support ULI’s sustainability programs.[66][61][62]
The Center houses ULI’s Building Healthy Places Initiative, Urban Resilience program, and Greenprint Center for Building Performance.[67][68] It is leading ULI’s work to help the real estate industry achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.[69][67]
The Building Healthy Places Initiative focuses on improving the health of people and communities.[69][67] Building Healthy Places helps members take action on opportunities to enhance health and social and racial equity through their professional practice and leadership in communities.[70]
The BHP Initiative produces at least three major reports per year. This research includes the 2022 report, Ten Principles for Embedding Racial Equity in Real Estate Development, and the 2015 report, Building Healthy Places Toolkit: Strategies for Enhancing Health in the Built Environment.[71] Learning programs include the ULI Health Leaders Network, the Randall Lewis Mentorship program, a biannual forum series, and a book club. The Initiative helps District Councils engage on pressing land use issues, including equitable access to parks and the revitalization of commercial corridors.[71]
The ULI Urban Resilience program is focused on how buildings and cities can be more resilience to impacts of climate change and other environmental vulnerabilities.[64][65] The Urban Resilience program works with ULI members to provide technical assistance, advance knowledge through research, and catalyze the adoption of transformative practices for real estate and land use policy.[72]
Resilience research includes the 2018 report 10 Principles for Building Resilience, a series of Climate Risk and Real Estate, as well as numerous project profiles in the Developing Urban Resilience collection. Additional member engagement is through the ULI Resilience Summit, Resilient Cities Summit, resilience ULI Learning courses and resilience ULI Awards.[73]
ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance[edit]
In 2012 the Greenprint Foundation transferred their activities and assets to ULI, creating the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance. With the merger, the new entity hopes to facilitate the reduced use of greenhouse gas emissions in the global real estate industry.[74][75] The center is best known for its annual Greenprint Performance Report, a tool used by the center's members to assess their own relative progress in reducing emissions. The report uses the Greenprint Carbon Index, and is intended to provide a verifiable, transparency tool for building owners to use in benchmarking their portfolios. The center's membership has included companies such as AvalonBay; GE Capital Real Estate; GLL Real Estate Partners; Grosvenor; Hines; Jones Lang LaSalle; Prologis; Prudential Real Estate Investors; and TIAA-CREF.[76]