Successful development of 20-minute communities in Black and brown neighborhoods requires community involvement and ownership, according to panelists who explored the topic at ULI’s 2021 Fall Meeting.

The success of Chicago’s push in recent years to support development near public transit had a problem, according to Charlton Hamer, senior vice president of local developer Habitat Affordable Group: The popularity of the new projects created inequity because many people could not afford to live in them.

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.

This morning, 2021 ULI Fall meeting attendees toured the area surrounding one of the oldest professional ballparks in the United States, Chicago’s Wrigley Field, which has been home to the Chicago Cubs baseball team for more than a century. When the Ricketts family took over Cubs ownership in 2009, it decided not only to rehabilitate the aging stadium, but also to turn a former parking lot next door into a mixed-use entertainment district bringing office, retail, and hotel uses to the area, as well as much-needed open space called Gallagher Way.

This morning in Chicago’s South Loop, ULI members were treated to a tour of two historic and iconic buildings that have recently undergone major redevelopment and renovation: The Willis Tower and the Old Post Office.

Centennial Yards is a $5 billion transformation of parking lots and former railyards in Atlanta into an experiential sports- and entertainment-anchored destination–one of the largest in the United States.

A survey conducted this spring by the ULI Curtis Infrastructure Initiative found that while the Institute’s members disagree about what exactly constitutes infrastructure, there is broad agreement that infrastructure creates the framework to enable real estate development, ensure economic development and housing opportunities, and provide connections for diverse communities. Asked to cite their top priority for infrastructure investment, members most often cited the stock of affordable housing.

COVID-19 may have left an indelible mark on the urban landscape, but cities have survived, and experts say the lessons from the pandemic eventually may help make them better places to live and work.

Khoo Teng Chye, the new chair of ULI Asia Pacific, began his three-year term in July, succeeding Nicholas Brooke, chairman of Professional Property Services in Hong Kong. An urban planner based in Singapore, Khoo teaches at the Faculty of Engineering and the School of Design and Environment at the National University of Singapore. Previously, he was executive director of Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities and chief executive officer of PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency.