Author: Grace Dobush

Grace Dobush is a freelance journalist based in Germany. She has contributed to Wired, Quartz, The Economist, and the Washington Post.

Articles by Grace Dobush

• Vienna Ranked World’s Most Livable City
  Published on July 15, 2022 in Economy, Market & Trends
  The lean, green Austrian capital is back on top of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s list of most livable cities.
• Climate Migration Is Now
  Published on April 01, 2022 in Sustainability
  Real estate investors need to factor in the human side of climate change and take a long-term view of their investments.
• Lack of Transparency, Standardization Bring Real Estate Climate Risk Assessments into Question
  Published on November 10, 2021 in Sustainability
  Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) professionals have had to quickly become experts in climate risk assessments, turning to an increasingly wide offering of climate risk analysis providers.
• Companies Walking the Talk on Corporate ESG
  Published on May 14, 2021 in Sustainability
  ULI Greenprint Innovation Partners: Pursuing sustainability via environmental, social, and governance goals is on the rise during the pandemic. Siemens, a global technology company, has made substantial progress in going carbon neutral.
• Confronting COVID-19: Global Real Estate Leaders Share Their Evolving Outlook
  Published on April 20, 2020 in COVID-19: Industry Insights
  ULI Europe gathered experts for an online panel discussion titled “Confronting the Pandemic: Perspectives from Global Real Estate Leaders." With their short-term plans focusing on the health and safety of employees and tenants, forward-thinking developers and investors are looking at medium- and long-term horizons as well.
• Best Practices for Prioritizing People: Four Projects on Three Continents
  Published on February 26, 2020 in Planning & Design
  With the challenges of technology, mobility, sustainability, and social inclusion, the public and private sectors are working together successfully to build thriving places. Reinventing underused urban spaces to prioritize people is the way. A panel at ULI Europe’s 2020 conference in Amsterdam, moderated by Marilyn Jordan Taylor, professor of architecture and urban design at the University of Pennsylvania and a former ULI global chair, discussed four successful projects around the globe.
• Close to the Peak or More Runway? How Investors View the Global Economy from Europe
  Published on February 21, 2020 in Capital Markets
  Interest rates remain low and real estate prices are hitting record highs in many countries while global economic growth is slowing. At the ULI Europe Conference earlier this month in Amsterdam, experts shared their takes on the global economic outlook and what developers and investors should watch for.
• Sharing Sidewalk Labs’ Vision of a City of the Future
  Published on February 18, 2020 in Sustainability
  “Cities need to grow to thrive,” Dan Doctoroff said. “But we can’t take growth for granted.” Doctoroff is the chairman and CEO of Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet. Doctoroff was speaking at the 2020 ULI Europe Conference.
• Seeing the Built Environment as Both the Problem and the Solution for Climate Change
  Published on February 10, 2020 in Sustainability
  Nearly every speaker at the ULI Europe 2020 Conference in Amsterdam had something to say about one issue: climate change. The property industry is directly at risk from increasingly frequent extreme weather events, and stricter regulations are shaping the development and maintenance of properties.
• Paris Seen as Europe’s Top City for 2020 Real Estate Investment and Development
  Published on November 07, 2019 in Development
  Despite the political uncertainty across Europe and around the world, European real estate remains a desirable asset for investors globally. That is the bottom line of the new Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Europe 2020 report released by the Urban Land Institute with PwC in Brussels. The coming 2024 Olympic Games were cited as a big draw for Paris, but the Grand Paris project was also mentioned many times by panelists.
• Sensor-Driven “Internet of Things” Is Crucial to Sustainability and Building Management
  Published on July 11, 2019 in Sustainability
  A technology expert speaking at ULI Europe’s Real Estate Forum in Copenhagen in June described the evolving best practices for using sensors to enhance building management and tenant satisfaction.
• Architect Jan Gehl’s Philosophy on Future-Proofing Old Cities
  Published on July 02, 2019 in Planning & Design
  “There is great confusion about what the future will be,” legendary architect Jan Gehl said at ULI Europe’s Real Estate Forum in Copenhagen in June.
• Built for the Future: Copenhagen’s Path to Carbon Neutrality
  Published on June 28, 2019 in Economy, Market & Trends
  Copenhagen’s investment in its revitalized waterfront area is paying off, said land-use experts speaking at the ULI Real Estate Forum, while the affordability of housing is an ongoing concern. Attendees saw firsthand what it means to be a people-centric city aspiring to become the first carbon-neutral world capital by 2025.
• Imagining New Governance Models for Cities of the Future
  Published on August 02, 2018 in Economy, Market & Trends
  What could the future of cities look like? In the future, cities will have more in common, and will have more interaction with each other than with regional governments, said speakers at ULI Germany's Urban Leader Summit in May. This “parasovereignty” can already be seen in places such as Dubai, where some cities use different systems of law to attract investment.
• Takeaways from London’s Shifting Perspective on Mobility and Development
  Published on July 30, 2018 in Planning & Design
  Rather than being siloed as strictly transportation initiatives, urban mobility projects and policies are increasingly being viewed in part as economic investment. London is a prime example of this approach, said experts speaking at the ULI Netherlands Conference in May.
• Seeing Pros and Cons in “Digitization” of Real Estate
  Published on July 16, 2018 in Economy, Market & Trends
  A future-focused Urban Leader Summit discussion in Frankfurt in May on embracing new technology raised just as many questions as it answered. Panelists said the waves of change triggered by this digital shift are going to be felt for generations to come, as more and more jobs are capable of being done by machines.
• Making Room for Newcomers: Density and the Draw of Urbanization
  Published on July 02, 2018 in Economy, Market & Trends
  “Human capital is the bedrock for municipal success,” Edward Glaeser, professor of economics at Harvard University and a ULI trustee, said in his keynote at ULI Netherlands’ Annual Conference in Amsterdam in May. His discussion focused on the key challenges and opportunities cities face, and how those affect regeneration.
• In Brief: Repurposing Rooftop Space as Values Climb in Berlin
  Published on June 18, 2018 in Development
  With property in high demand in Berlin—it had the largest year-over-year real estate price increase of any city in the world last year—it makes more sense than ever to look up for new opportunities. A number of developers have found success (or are hoping for a top return) from add-on projects atop existing structures in Germany’s capital.
• Converting Office Buildings to Communal Micro-Hotels in East Amsterdam
  Published on June 11, 2018 in Economy, Market & Trends
  Nestled in a relatively quiet East Amsterdam neighborhood, a new kind of hotel has been racking up occupancy rates topping 90 percent for the past two years. Zoku is a modern take on the extended-stay hotel, where the visitors stay in fully outfitted micro-hotel rooms of 260 or 320 square feet (24 or 30 sq m) and relax and connect in the common areas on the top floor.
• KaDeWe: Operating on a Beating Heart in Berlin
  Published on June 04, 2018 in Economy, Market & Trends
  Berlin’s landmark luxury shopping center is being refreshed at a price in the hundreds of millions and with Rem Koolhaas at the helm.
• How the Sharing Economy, Artificial Intelligence, and 3-D Printing Are Altering the Built Environment
  Published on February 20, 2018 in Economy, Market & Trends
  In a number of sessions at the ULI Europe Conference in Berlin, investment and development leaders shared their thoughts on the tech issues that they think hold the most promise to disrupt the industry—and the ones that keep them up at night.
• Despite Brexit and Central Bank Shifts, Global Economic Forecast Remains Largely Upbeat
  Published on February 12, 2018 in Capital Markets
  Whether the current economic cycle has peaked was a constant question at the 2018 ULI Europe Conference in Berlin. In the discussions at the event in late January, real estate and investment experts were feeling bullish on Asia, generally enthusiastic about continental Europe, while cautious about Brexit.
• Future-Proofing Retail by Creating Destinations, Embracing Smaller Stores
  Published on February 12, 2018 in Economy, Market & Trends
  At the 2018 ULI Europe Conference in Berlin, a number of discussions on the future of the retail business looked at the changing shopping center ecosystems and what developers could be doing better.
• The Future of Growing Cities Requires Less Parking, More Shared Rides
  Published on July 21, 2017 in Sustainability
  Though longer commute times alone can be a sign of a city’s appeal, metropolitan areas have to fix their traffic problems in order to prepare for the future, said experts speaking at the recent ULI Netherlands Conference in Amsterdam.
• Creating Offices and Housing from Berlin’s Aging Airport
  Published on July 12, 2017 in Development
  For more than 20 million passengers annually, Tegel Airport is the gateway to Berlin. As a new international airport is being built, an ambitious project is intended to transform Tegel into an “urban tech republic.”
• Embracing the Future of Cities with Intentionality and Investment
  Published on June 29, 2017 in Economy, Market & Trends
  Speaking at a recent ULI Belgium event, ULI senior resident fellow Tom Murphy said that intentionality made the Pittsburgh transformation possible after the decades-long collapse of the U.S. steel industry.
• World Economic Forum Sees the Future of Global Cities in Inclusivity, Mindfulness, and Sharing
  Published on June 13, 2017 in Economy, Market & Trends
  The cities of the future embrace the principles of being inclusive, being mindful, and sharing, says Alice Charles, community lead for infrastructure and urban development at the World Economic Forum. She shared practical examples of these cities at ULI Belgium’s recent conference in Brussels.
• Preparing for Six “Life Stages”: How Cities Will Continue to Thrive
  Published on May 25, 2017 in Economy, Market & Trends
  Demographic changes taking root today will affect society and the built environment for decades to come, according to Eike Wenzel, managing partner of the Institut für Trend- und Zukunftsforschung. He spoke about what cities can do to anticipate and adapt to these changes at the ULI Germany 2017 Urban Leader Summit in Frankfurt.
• How the City of Cologne Is Reinventing Itself for the 21st Century
  Published on May 22, 2017 in Planning & Design
  Cologne, the fourth-largest city in Germany, is facing a population challenge. In recent years, the “little big city on the Rhine” has grown faster than projected, with a current population exceeding 1 million. But municipal leaders are embracing the challenge and working with residents to redesign and redevelop Cologne in a sustainable way to accommodate urban growth and preserve the city’s social diversity.
• Economic Forecasts for Germany Remain Strong Despite Global Uncertainty
  Published on May 22, 2017 in Economy, Market & Trends
  Brexit and the recent U.S. and French elections came up in many conversations at ULI Germany’s recent Urban Leader Summit in Frankfurt. Although panelists said they are concerned about the geopolitical changes afoot, the domestic German economy remains strong.
• How Mass Migration Is Enhancing Europe’s Cities
  Published on May 01, 2017 in Economy, Market & Trends
  Most migrants to Europe are clustering in cities, a new study finds, compounding the challenge of rising rents with encouraging integration of new residents and preserving a healthy socioeconomic environment. The new ULI report, Mass Migration and Real Estate in European Cities, was released at ULI Germany's Urban Leader Summit.