Jeffrey Spivak

Jeffrey Spivak, a senior market analyst in suburban Kansas City, Missouri, is an award-winning writer specializing in real estate development, infrastructure, and demographic trends.

Online video game competitions are moving out of the basement—and taking hold as the new professional sport.
Across the United States, a number of cities are attempting to restore and rediscover their urban rivers. One of the most ambitious efforts is occurring in Houston, where Buffalo Bayou Park is undergoing a $58 million redevelopment to be completed this year.
Gigabit service is the next-generation advance in web browsing and data handling. Its widespread deployment in the United States only began this decade, so its availability is still limited to less than 15 percent of the population, according to industry surveys and the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce. But access is surging, with hundreds of companies now providing fiber connections, and availability of the “gig” is emerging as a development tool for cities and a competitive advantage for real estate properties offering it.
Some gaps remain in the access to and availability of technology in parts of U.S. cities, and ULI’s recent J.C. Nichols Forum highlighted some newer and emerging tech applications to bridge the digital divide.
The middle tier of U.S. cities—places like Kansas City, Missouri—may have lower populations, fewer cultural offerings, and less cosmopolitan flair than bigger cities, but they also have their own advantages over the behemoths.
While cities around the world face many challenges, they also play a role in providing economic opportunity and bringing people of different backgrounds together. “Communities succeed best when they’re diverse,” said Peter Calthorpe, an award-winning San Francisco–based architect and pioneer of sustainable urban design globally who was awarded the Nichols Prize in 2006, speaking at the ULI Nichols Forum in Kansas City, Missouri.
Two ambitious park projects in Dallas tie neighborhoods together—and spurred a boom in nearby real estate values.
New tech habits spur demand for creating privacy in open-plan homes.
Golf course operators try to shave a few strokes off their water numbers.
Free public wi-fi and charging stations are being deployed through outdoor public furniture and fixtures—benches, shelters, streetlight poles, trash cans, and other common features.
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