Making cities such as New Orleans more child-friendly requires rethinking mobility infrastructure, providing more access to public transit, and bringing together a variety of stakeholders—including young people—into the planning process, according to panelists on the “Child-Friendly New Orleans: Designing the Future” concurrent session at the 2021 ULI Fall Meeting in Chicago.

Jonathan Rose, center, in conversation with Commissioner of the Chicago Department Planning and Development Maurice Cox, and Rebuild Foundation executive director Theaster Gates Jr. Rose, a long-time ULI Trustee, is founder and president of New York-based Jonathan Rose Companies, a national mission-driven real estate development, planning and investment firm. Rose Companies has long been a leader in green building practices, and enhancing the social, health and educational opportunities for residents through its Communities of Opportunity programming.

With features such as mezzanine offices above warehouse spaces and shared-amenity areas in which people can exercise and socialize, developers are transforming the once-staid genre of industrial buildings by incorporating features comparable to those typically found in office and mixed-use projects, according to a recent ULI panel discussion. Panelists also described design changes made to facilitate the increasingly rapid movement of e-commerce goods and rooftop solar installations that can supply most of a building’s energy needs.

Washington, D.C., can advance the recovery of the business, tourist, and neighborhood activity in its central business district (CBD) through multiple community-led initiatives, according to a new ULI report, based on the first ULI Virtual Advisory Services panel (vASP).

Between January and March 2021, Urban Landpublished a series of articles chronicling the efforts of member-led task forces organized by ULI district councils in Chicago, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Tampa to address local policy and regulatory barriers to creation of healthier and more equitable places. These initiatives were part of ULI’s District Council Task Force for Health and Social Equity Project.

The mayor of Paris is embracing the ville du quart d’heure—translated as 15-minute city—the first time that a leading politician in France’s largest city had backed the idea, particularly as a reelection strategy.

Though working from home has moved higher on the occupier agenda as the Asia Pacific region copes with the ongoing global pandemic, office space is adapting to the changing environment.

Nearly 800 structures were converted to apartment buildings during the 2010s, the highest number in the past seven decades, according to research by data provider Yardi Matrix. Chicago tops the list of U.S. cities with the most adaptive-use apartment buildings, whereas New York City is home to the most converted apartment units in total.

Three San Francisco developers discuss focusing on “what would work” in order to create the city’s Mission Bay mixed-use development, during the WLI session at the 2020 ULI Virtual Fall Meeting

Anthony “Tony” Williams, who served as the mayor of Washington, D.C., from 1999 to 2007, has been awarded the 2020 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.