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When Denver’s Stapleton International Airport closed in the mid-1990s, community leaders saw a chance to create a new, 4,700-acre (1,900 ha) community just six miles east of downtown. The project’s original developer, Forest City Stapleton (sold to Brookfield Properties in 2018), kicked off an urban transformation that is now nearing completion 25 years later. Known for extensive resilience strategies to reduce the effects of drought, flooding, and extreme heat, Central Park’s 12 neighborhoods are home to nearly 35,000 residents, with 60 parks as well as extensive pedestrian and bicycle trails.

The search for new growth and potential out-performance is shifting real estate allocations toward niche sectors such as cold storage, medical office, single-family rentals (SFR), and senior housing.

Phase 2 of the Willets Point redevelopment project is transforming an industrial part of Queens that once-inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “valley of ashes” in The Great Gatsby in 1925. A century later, Queens Development Group—a joint venture between Related Companies, Sterling Equities, and New York City Football Club—is converting 23 acres (9.3 ha) of underutilized land into a $3 billion mixed-use community.

With a rapidly expanding market, navigating the sea of financing mechanisms is a challenge. These are more than just funding sources. They are strategic tools that channel capital into sustainable projects while also managing environmental risks and delivering financial returns.

In January 2025, the Holcim Foundation played host to a second Global Fellowship—this time for Latin America—in Mexico City. The immersive two-week program occurred in collaboration with UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and focused on sustainable construction rooted in the social, environmental, and political realities of the region. The Fellowship is part of the Holcim Foundation’s global initiatives to support next-generation practitioners in the built environment.

Los Angeles-based impact fund manager SDS Capital Group has launched a new capital platform—SDS Impact Debt (SDSID)—that aims to bring much needed, low-cost debt to the affordable housing market. It is an asset-backed model that offers below-market financing (both permanent and construction) for affordable housing projects—and is potentially scalable across the U.S.

Despite the headwinds to rebuilding quickly and efficiently, just after the worst of the Los Angeles fires, ULI Los Angeles joined UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate and the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate to shape a response plan, created in just six weeks.

In 2014, a ULI Advisory Service panel made recommendations about the future use and preservation of Houston’s Astrodome, among the first indoor sports facilities in the world.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is experiencing increased flooding of local streets, even without major rain events or high winds, and residents are demanding answers. While many are calling on the city to elevate certain streets above the floodplain, ULI experts caution this is the least desirable solution because it can have severe negative consequences on nearby homes and businesses.

Within days of the fires, the three institutions formed a Rebuild Advisory Committee. The Project Recovery report, produced by about 100 leading experts in land use, urban planning, and economic development, offers in-depth technical analysis and actionable recommendations to accelerate recovery and build long-term resilience in communities.

The recent ULI Carolinas Conference in Charleston offered a glimpse into groundbreaking projects transforming the urban landscapes of North and South Carolina, with developers delivering rapid-fire presentations during the high-energy Crane Watch session. Each presenter shared the vision, challenges, and impacts their projects promise for communities across the Carolinas.

As student housing needs evolve, developers are rethinking design, creating dynamic, experience-driven communities that promote connection and well-being.

ULI Europe is calling for innovators from across the built environment and technology to submit groundbreaking solutions to tackle the dual crises of housing affordability and decarbonization of the built environment, in the ULI PropTech Innovation Challenge (PIC) 2025.

The June 1982 issue of Urban Land. Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, Hamtramck Mayor Robert Kozaren, and General Motors Chairman Roger Smith pose before the remains of Chrysler’s former Dodge Main plant at a formal project groundbreaking in May 1981.

When Ballantyne first emerged out of North Carolina farmland, more than 30 years ago, the original developers of this master-planned project already had a concrete vision in mind for its future: evolution. The development team intrinsically understood that, as Ballantyne—an affluent community nestled in south Charlotte—would expand beyond its farmland roots, the project would need to adapt to meet the needs of a more diverse and changing demographic.

Despite improving return-to-office numbers, the office sector still battles numerous challenges that are resulting in higher loan defaults. According to MSCI Real Assets, office leads the charge on rising distress levels, which have not been seen in more than a decade. Office accounts for nearly half of outstanding distress: $51.6 billion in outstanding distress at the end of fourth quarter 2024, and another $74.7 billion in office properties identified as at risk for “potential” distress.

India, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, is urbanizing rapidly. By 2030, more than 40 percent of its populace is projected to live in urban areas, contributing there to more than 70 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. The demand for commercial and residential spaces is surging, which attracts global investors eager to capitalize on this dynamic market. This rapid growth comes with a pressing question, however: can India urbanize without following the carbon-heavy trajectory of other developed countries?

A major investment in the long-term future of professional soccer is set to dramatically transform the last major land parcel in downtown Oklahoma City. Thanks to a successful public/private partnership, America’s 20^th-largest city is seeing a continued resurgence in its downtown.

In Jersey City, N.J., commuters recently started using what is believed to be the first moving sidewalk designed as a permanent facility for the large-scale movement of pedestrian traffic.

Although ready to commence a new real estate cycle, real estate leaders globally are braced for another challenging year of uncertainty, with lingering inflation, largely driven by factors including geopolitical instability, and persistently higher interest rates in some regions, potentially delaying a hoped-for recovery in capital markets and occupancy metrics. This is according to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate^® Global Outlook 2025 from PwC and ULI, which provides an important gauge of global sentiment for investment and development prospects, amalgamating and updating three regional reports which canvassed thousands of real estate leaders across Europe, the United States and Asia Pacific.

Optimism is often misunderstood as wishful thinking or blind positivity. In reality, fearless positivity is a leadership strategy—one that allows organizations to not only endure change but leverage it as a catalyst for innovation. Research shows that organizations led by optimistic leaders outperform their peers. Optimistic leaders foster more engaged teams, make bolder strategic decisions, and create cultures that embrace adaptability rather than resist it.

According to CBRE’s “North America Data Center Trends H2 2024" report, the overall vacancy rate in primary markets fell to a record-low 1.9 percent at year-end. Only a handful of facilities with 10 MW or more are slated for delivery in 2025 and are not yet leased, reflecting the scarcity of large-scale available inventory.

In early February 2025, hundreds of stakeholders and real estate professionals gathered at DeSales University for a meeting sponsored by ULI Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and supported by ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Housing and Lehigh County Commissioners. The first installment of a three-part Technical Assistance Panel (TAP), “Housing Supply and Attainability Strategy in the Lehigh Valley” aimed to open the conversation and further shape the technical assistance work to follow.

Building on ULI’s impactful work accomplished at the city scale, a neighborhood-focused workshop brought together industry experts from across Europe and from the United States, representing a wide spectrum of the real estate value chain. The aim was to share diverse insights, cross pollinate ideas and develop practical solutions towards decarbonization and for a better collaboration.

In the July-August 1967 edition of Urban Land, Thurston H. Ross delivered a speech on high-rise schools, the abandonment of the front and backyard concept, and a return to the town meeting type of government in the future.

As buildings become more efficient and run on “cleaner” energy sources, the industry’s attention will need to include embodied carbon—emissions associated with the manufacturing and transportation of building materials, as well as the construction, maintenance and disposal of buildings.

Nestled in the shadow of SSM Health’s new $550 million hospital and Saint Louis University’s medical and undergraduate campuses, the former Steelcote Manufacturing Company Paint Factory and its neighboring parcels constituted a forgotten remnant of St. Louis’ proud industrial past. Few observers, if any, envisioned the area’s potential for housing not only students and hospital employees but also national entertainment options such as Topgolf and a major retailer, Target.

The reimagining of master-planned communities, cutting-edge data centers, advanced lab spaces, and the new breed of elite hotels were discussed at the 20th ULI Arizona Trends Day.

October 1970: In a story titled “Computerized Cash Flow Analysis: A New Way to Evaluate Cash Project Feasibility,” the authors, John Hysom and Charles Juengling write, “In land development, cash flow has always been an important factor. In 1970, however, with both long-term and short-term financing at record interest levels, it has now become imperative that buildings and developers have as accurate a projection of cash flows, expenses, and income as possible.”

When my wife and I moved back to the Los Angeles area in 2000, we bought a three-bedroom Spanish-style home two blocks south of the Altadena/Pasadena border, and just a few blocks from the neighborhoods lost in the Eaton fire this past January. It was a special home for us: our first child was born there, and we loved starting our family in such a racially and socio-economically diverse residential community.