Over the past two decades, Lakisha Hull has held professional planning roles in Miami, Charlotte, Orlando, Los Angeles, and—most recently—Prince George’s County, Maryland. Her work has spanned development services, placemaking, and neighborhood revitalization, as well as complex, time-sensitive initiatives involving major sports venues, downtown redevelopment, and preparations for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. She has guided planning efforts during periods of rapid population growth in Charlotte, including preparations for the 2020 Republican National Convention, and advanced long-range master plans, transportation strategies, workforce development initiatives, and a comprehensive countywide data center study in Prince George’s County.
In addition to her public-sector leadership, Hull teaches at Georgetown University, helping to prepare the next generation of planners and designers. She remains deeply engaged with the Urban Land Institute, crediting the organization with shaping her professional growth at every stage of her career, and is a member of Leadership Greater Washington’s Class of 2026, where she works alongside regional leaders from across industries to sharpen her approach to civic problem-solving.
In recognition of Black History Month and the upcoming Women’s History Month, Hull reflects on the importance of partnership, mentorship, and cultural heritage in community development—and on what it takes to build cities that are resilient, inclusive, and built to last.
Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Community Development
Urban Land: What do Black History Month and the upcoming Women’s History Month mean to you in the context of community development and partnership?
Hull: Black History Month and Women’s History Month are great opportunities for all partners involved in land use and real estate to explore how we can elevate assets that are key to ensuring our projects and communities are thriving for all users. It’s about continuing to celebrate our differences and embracing cultural heritage in a very collaborative way while meeting each communities’ needs.
UL: Can you tell us about the Hip Hop Architecture Camp in Charlotte?
Hull: Yes, it was a program sponsored by ULI Charlotte that connected professionals like me with local high school students. It gave teenagers a chance to talk about what they like about Charlotte—and it also allowed them to create a music video and a song. It was really impressive to hear them articulate what the future of Charlotte could look like through architecture and the built environment while providing feedback to public officials on what a thriving community looks like for the younger generations.
This project brought in multiple practitioners as mentors, helping students learn about architecture, planning, land use, and the role of local government in the development review process. These were students who received a deeper dive into the Urban Land Institute through a week-long program, so it was powerful to see them get engaged.
UL: How does this connect to your broader philosophy around professional engagement?
Hull: I hold professional engagement as a key component of showcasing the design profession in each community I serve. It allows me to customize toolboxes and initiatives for neighborhood context, to elevate spaces that are being redeveloped or enhanced. I have had the pleasure of seeing this philosophy fulfilled as I was a panelist at the 2022 ULI Florida Summit in Miami and ULI Southeast Florida/Caribbean Elected Official Workshop, where housing is an important topic. Or my participation in ULI Washington’s 2024 Learn from the Best and the ULI Leadership Institute Program, with other experts in the area. The great thing is that ULI is not a one-size-fits-all organization. In the many diverse communities that I have served, I have been able to state, “I’m here—how do I maximize this opportunity to further move forward a positive impact and inspire the next generation of leaders?”
When people ask, “What has ULI done for you?”—these are the examples I point to because of the bridging together professionals and stakeholders with multiple backgrounds and interests. This includes multigenerational, multi-ethnic, and multilingual demographics.
Career Path and Leadership Across Cities
UL: How do you stay engaged with ULI as you move between cities and career stages?
Hull: As part of enhancing our many diverse communities across the U.S., I see the importance of connecting to the local ULI organization when I move to another city or state. I’ve been able to plug into multiple ULIs across the country and take on different roles. You can engage as a mentor, on an advisory board, participate with Urban Plan, or on a Technical Advisory Panel, with focuses on specific areas like housing or large-scale projects, or work more with the local Product Council, if that’s your interest. For instance, I have had the pleasure of managing the Goodyear Industrial Tract TAP in Los Angeles in 2018, which led to transformative legislation in the South Los Angeles area, and the recent Marlboro Pike Corridor TAP in Prince George’s County in 2025, which supported updates to an important master plan in the area. I have had the pleasure to serve as a panelist at two local Product Councils’ events in Prince George’s County in the past two years.
Because of my multidisciplinary background, an organization like ULI complements where I’m going—whether that’s small-scale infill projects, or very complex large-scale mixed-use projects.
UL: You grew up in Miami and attended a magnet high school focused on design and architecture. How did your interest in the built environment begin?
Hull: At an early age, I was really drawn to art through my grandfather and was very inspired by him.
Growing up in Miami in the 1980s and 1990s afforded me an opportunity to attend many award-winning magnet public schools. The high school I graduated from—Design and Architecture Senior High—had four specializations, including architecture. I was surrounded by many cultures and nationalities, which shaped how I approached my education and career. We were able to learn about the built environment through internships at architecture firms and exposure to local college professors. I was able to graduate with course work almost an associate’s degree level in high school, which really provided a strong foundation early on in the design profession.
UL: Hurricane Andrew hit Miami in 1992 as you were entering high school. How did that experience shape your thinking about cities?
Hull: At that time, Miami experienced one of the worst hurricanes in the U.S. Seeing how the city and region redeveloped afterward really inspired me.
I started to understand how the built environment can be resilient—how it can hold on to historic landmarks while also providing opportunities to rebuild and revitalize communities. Watching how public/private partnerships came together left a lasting impression on me.
UL: After high school, you went on to study architecture. Where did you attend college?
Hull: I went to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I majored in architecture and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2000. We just recently celebrated our 25th reunion.
At the University of Michigan, my studio was small but very multicultural—students from different backgrounds, all connected by a love for architecture and other design professions. One of my toughest architectural professors motivated me to link architecture with placemaking through planning. She wrote my recommendation letters for graduate school and helped shape the direction of my career, for which I am forever grateful.
UL: How did the shift into planning shape your career?
Hull: Planning gave me the ability to step into spaces without assumptions and to connect across disciplines. Every city has communities and neighborhoods that are thriving and areas that need reinvestment.
My approach has always been to build alliances—with planners, engineers, architects, developers, land use attorneys, landscape architects, designers, and people from different cultural and professional backgrounds—to move shared ideas forward.
UL: You’ve spoken about balance and avoiding burnout. How do you sustain yourself in demanding roles?
Hull: As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned the importance of balance. I love helping communities, but I also understand the need to fill my own cup. I’m a world traveler, and when I travel, I go completely off the grid.
Being able to disconnect works with the support of a great team. It is important to prioritize professional development opportunities with my team while ‘putting fun on the table.’ It is a twofold approach. The vacation allows for me to step away and immerse in another culture while letting my team grow, which is essential for succession planning.
UL: You’ve also worked in major 24/7 markets. What are the challenges at that scale?
Hull: Major real estate markets such as Orlando, Charlotte, Miami, and Los Angeles require agility and the ability to execute in the most efficient way. There’s pressure for quick return on investment, with major projects connected to time-sensitive financing, and large venues that need to be delivered as placemaking remains at the forefront.
In Orlando, it was a new basketball arena, renovation of a stadium, and construction of a new performance arts center, each project surrounded by well-designed parks and plazas. In Charlotte, it was the Pearl, a medical innovation campus that brought the first Medical School to Charlotte opening in the past two years, through partnerships with Atrium Health and Wake Forest University. In Miami, which has the third largest skyline in the U.S., it was moving forward an important public art program as part of the entitlement process for the Inter Miami’s future stadium, part of the Miami Freedom Park development, which was approved in less than a year and is scheduled to open in 2026. In Los Angeles, which is the second-largest city in the U.S., it was preparing venues for hosting the 2028 Olympics. In those environments, you’re balancing housing, infrastructure, commercial development, and community need, all at once. It is exciting to problem solve with great partnerships to move forward transformative projects!
Prince George’s County and What Comes Next
UL: What was your focus in Prince George’s County most recently?
Hull: In Prince George’s County, the work centered on long-range planning, permit enhancements, and public engagement programs. We updated master plans that hadn’t been touched in decades, worked on transportation planning, and released a comprehensive countywide data center study in fall 2025.
We also invested heavily in people—offering free planning academies for residents and business owners and bringing in paid college interns each summer. That focus on building human capital was really important to advancing mentorship, partnerships, and upward mobility.
UL: Is there an issue you think urban planning needs to address more directly?
Hull: Food insecurity is becoming increasingly important. I recently visited an adaptive reuse with aquaponics that embraced innovation of aquaculture and hydroponics. This urban farm raises fish and produce, and partners with local farmers, restaurant owners, and local food hubs to help support the local food industry in Lexington.
As land becomes scarcer, we need to think creatively about adaptive reuse projects with land use updates as necessary to creatively support green space and green roofs to grow local food production. That intersection of planning, health, and equity is something I hope to see more as resilience and sustainability are being elevated throughout our built environments.
