A new ULI report describes a variety of public financing tools for cities seeking to reinvent themselves and attract greater private investment. The report, however, is not about any one specific financing tool or taxing mechanism, but about the leadership, strategic vision, and political will necessary to create a plan for reinvention and execute it. Expert panelists discussed how these challenges played out in Pittsburgh; Greenville, South Carolina; and Cincinnati at the recent ULI Housing Opportunity Conference in Boston.

As financing for real estate development tightens, institutional equity investors are becoming more selective in their funding, and developers are exploring new market segments such as the over-70 sector, said panelists speaking at the 2016 ULI Spring Meeting.

Joseph W. O’Connor, 70, of North Palm Beach, Florida, passed away at home in February surrounded by family and friends following a courageous ten-month battle with cancer. O’Connor founded Copley Real Estate Advisors, one of the largest and most successful real estate investment firms in the United States. He was cochair of AEW Capital Management and chairman of the Urban Land Institute from 2001 to 2003, in addition to being a ULI Foundation governor and trustee.

The $1 billion in National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC) grants recently awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a critical step in helping states and communities across the nation become more resilient to the impacts of climate change, according to ULI. In addition, the grant proposals and winning applications have highlighted the important connections between urban design and development and improving community resilience.

Densification is the key to responding to population growth, economic changes, new lifestyle preferences, and the sustainability imperative in European cities, according to a new report by ULI and TH Real Estate. The Density Dividend: Solutions for Growing and Shrinking Citiesdraws from the experience of six European cities at various stages of population change and makes clear that many cities have little choice but to densify.

The ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing has named one development and two programs as winners of the annual ULI Housing Awards.

Lamont Blackstone, chairman of the board of Project REAP, the nation’s leading diversity initiative focused on the commercial real estate industry, shares his thoughts on why the commercial real estate (CRE) industry lagged behind other economic sectors in embracing diversity.

Longtime Urban Land Institute leader A. Alfred Taubman passed away following a heart attack. He was 91. Taubman, a real estate industry icon who pioneered the development of enclosed shopping malls, had been a ULI Foundation governor since 1985. He served as a trustee from 1980 through 1992, and was a member of the ULI Advisory Services committee from 1995 to 1996.

Bringing open space, retail, residential, and other uses to a transportation hub—and former industrial site.

Urban Land magazine has announced the winners of its first-ever 40 Under 40 competition, which recognizes the best and brightest young land use professionals from around the globe as determined by a jury of leading ULI members.