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Innovative technology platforms already are helping many owners operate apartment buildings more efficiently and improve services for tenants. But experts say that is just the start of a revolution that could transform the multifamily segment.

While private infrastructure can help to fill many gaps where municipal budgets are constrained and standards for safety and accessibility can be maintained, it can come with challenges as well. Where are private streets most feasible and effective, how does context matter, and what policies can ensure that they are done right?

For some members of the ULI Foundation’s Governors Society, philanthropic giving is a way to support the Institute’s efforts to remedy the worldwide shortage of attainable housing, reduce carbon output to fight climate change, and educate a diverse future generation of leaders for the real estate profession. For other governors, their philanthropy is a gesture of gratitude for the role that ULI has played in their professional careers and achievements, or a way to honor friends they made through the organization. And some just want to be an inspiration to other ULI members.

Ethnic and cultural diversity, combined with a reputation as a welcoming place for immigrants, has long been a strength of the Greater Toronto Area—and it has also influenced the city’s development, panelists cautioned at ULI’s 2023 Spring Meeting.

At the recent 2023 ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto, panelists noted that transaction volumes have dropped significantly with the slowing of lending and bank failures.

In the heart of Toronto, a revolution is unfolding underground. Beneath the bustling streets and towering skyscrapers, a network of pipes is tackling the climate crisis. The story of Toronto’s Deep Lake Water Cooling system and its potential to reshape the approach to sustainable development was told during a session at the ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto.

The development of Zibi, a master-planned development under construction in Ottawa on 34 acres (14 ha) of waterfront property is relying heavily on feedback from the community, including consulting with Indigenous people, panelists said at the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting.

It could take 10 years for the world to settle into a “new normal” after the global COVID-19 pandemic, innovation expert Jeremy Gutsche said in his closing keynote at the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto.

Toronto is the largest city in Canada and its population is growing rapidly. As a result, demand for more housing and office space has led to a staggering amount of new development. Over the last 10 years alone, the city added 27 million square feet (2.5 million sq m) of office space. But developing in the city is not easy, and panelists shared how they are dealing with the challenges of building in Toronto at the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting.

At a 2023 ULI Spring Meeting panel titled “View from the Top,” Tsering Yangki, executive vice president at Dream Unlimited, one of Canada’s leading real estate companies, with over $23 billion in assets across North America and Europe, spoke with WLI chair Ellen Klasson, managing director at RCLCO.

Imagine a city where every corner is a testament to its diverse inhabitants and where every public space is a welcoming stage for cultural exchange. This vision was brought to life during the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting panel titled “The Welcoming City: Encouraging Diversity and Inclusion through Creative Placemaking.”

As the world struggles to deal with the threat posed by climate change, Toronto provides a template for how cities can dramatically reduce emissions at an urban scale, in a way that is sustainable from a business standpoint, according to panelists at the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto.

Hospitals and health care facilities play a critical role in cities and towns across the country, serving as an employer as well as meeting one of the community’s crucial needs. But over the past decade, that important role has begun to evolve. Spurred in part by requirements under the Affordable Care Act, enacted in 2010, hospitals are expanding their role to focus on health not just for the individual, but also for the wider community, panelists said during a session at the ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto.

Industry leaders speaking at a general session at the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting agreed that innovation is needed to provide more housing in growing cities.

In an era when the costs for infrastructure are skyrocketing, the need for innovative financing structures is more critical than ever. The panel discussion “Accelerating Development with Early-Stage Financing” at the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting provided a fresh perspective on how early-stage capital can expedite development timelines and transform the industry.

Shopping malls, the once-bustling hubs of commerce and community, are now facing an uncertain future in light of relentless urbanization and population growth. But as the city evolves, so too must these giants. At the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto, industry leaders tackled this very question in the panel titled “Reimagining the Mall: The Final Urban Frontier.”

Recent advances in property technology applications can enable smaller real estate operators to boost their operational capabilities and improve their tenants’ experience if they learn to think strategically about how to use the tools, said panelists at the ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto.

ULI’s fourth annual Resilience Summit in Toronto featured a panel of affordable housing and climate crisis experts offering solutions in the face of sobering odds.

The problem of housing affordability affects more than just cities with staggeringly high costs like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. The issue is one that has spread to become a crisis across the United States, exacerbated by high inflation, rising interest rates, and a lack of housing supply, said panelists at the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting.

During the Opening General Session of the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto, Dr. Pippa Malmgren looked at global economics, geopolitics, and the future.

To open the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto, members of the Institute’s global leadership team gathered for a fireside chat. ULI Global CEO Ron Pressman, global chair-elect Diane Hoskins, and outgoing global chair Peter Ballon, who also serves as the global head of real estate for CPP Investments, discussed the future of ULI and the broader industry over the next two years. Hoskins begins her two-year term as global chair starting in July 2023.

The ULI Foundation has announced that Alex J. Rose, executive vice president for Continental Development Corporation, has donated $1 million to support ULI’s Advisory Services program, which offers expertise and technical assistance to communities facing complex land use challenges. This gift is a contribution to the ULI Foundation’s first capital campaign, Our Cities, Our Future, which aims to raise $100 million in support of the Institute’s global mission.

Given a marked flight-to-quality and declining demand for office space overall, older office assets are increasingly being converted to other uses.

In a report that emphasized upward mobility and inclusion in Indiana’s second largest city, a ULI Advisory Services panel for the Electric Works redevelopment project in Fort Wayne, Indiana, focused on the economic importance of being a destination with an “open tent.” That means having real and stated plans that emphasize the inclusion of the entire region.

ULI has announced 20 finalists for the 2023 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence, one of the most prestigious awards programs in the real estate industry. This year’s finalists include 19 developments in the United States and one in Canada. Three additional projects from the United States received special mentions.

Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate was awarded first place in the graduate division of the 13th annual Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation Real Estate Challenge, which culminated with final presentations in April at the offices of Holland & Knight, 150 N. Riverside Plaza in Chicago.

Yvonne Yeung, CEO of SDG Strategies, has served as the ULI Curtis Infrastructure Fellow in 2023. During her fellowship, Yeung created a conversation tool to help leaders form actionable strategies to build 15-Minute Communities.

Can transit-integrated development like RUS Bus in Raleigh, North Carolina, help our cities thrive for the long haul?

In April, ULI Young Leaders participated in a webinar that addressed the current and future impact of artificial intelligence on the real estate industry and the obstacles and challenges to its adoption.

Participants in a recent ULI webinar highlighted a new research report, Bridging the Occupier Landlord Gap for the Future of Workspace, which analyzes how changing occupier behavior and broader macroeconomic trends are affecting the demand for office space.