Douglas R. Porter, president of the Growth Management Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, conducts research and lectures on development issues, and recently taught a course in urban redevelopment at Johns Hopkins University.
The availability of online college degrees and certificates in real estate seems to increase every year. Students enrolled in such programs can acquire the skills necessary to work in commercial and corporate real estate companies—especially important because all states require licensing for some types of real estate transactions.
Universities are joining real estate with related business and design curriculums—and boosting their hands-on experiences for students.
See what one man, the 2004 laureate of the J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, was able to accomplish through his commitment to developing mixed-income communities in central cities prone to decline and disinvestment.
There are many paths to earning a university degree in real estate development, and a wide variety of disciplines and subjects provide grist for that education mill.
As financing for new development has dried up, some might wonder whether public incentives to “go green” have lost relevance in the marketplace.