Since Airbnb began to disrupt the U.S. hospitality sector, industry leaders have been thinking about ways to attract previously underserved customers. A number of recently built hotels and resorts combine the space and amenities of a private home with high-end amenities, concierge service, and curated experiences. A 2017 ULI Fall Meeting session presented two recently introduced concepts with distinctly different target markets and price points.

Retail is the pulse of any vibrant urban environment, including downtown Los Angeles (DTLA). Just ask Avison Young’s Derrick Moore, who has brokered some 400 DTLA retail leasing deals in the last few years.

Urban theorist Richard Florida warned of “a growing divide between places that are winning and places that are failing to keep up.” That societal split is the subject of his latest book, The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class—and What We Can Do About It.

The United States is becoming more urbanized. Cities are becoming stronger. But millions of people are being left behind, unable to participate in the urban success, says Henry Cisneros, coauthor of a new ULI book on the topic.

In a Fall Meeting presentation, developer John McNellis offered attendees tips on the risks and rewards of working with financial partners versus tapping one’s own bank account.

Many U.S. cities continue to grapple with what to do about homelessness arising from a shortage of affordable housing coupled with local not-in-my-backyard resistance to creating it, according to speakers at a panel on the issue at ULI’s 2017 Fall Meeting in Los Angeles.

ULI Americas Chairman Trish Healy welcomed attendees to the 2017 ULI Fall Meeting with remarks affirming the Institute’s role as an industry leader. “Everything ULI is, everything ULI does is about member leadership. As a ULI member, each of you is de facto an industry leader, providing our communities access to the responsible land use expertise they need,” Healy said.

As ULI opened its 2017 Fall Meeting in Los Angeles, Robert Lowe, chairman and founder of Lowe Enterprises and the conference’s cochair, told attendees that the Los Angeles of today is much different than the L.A. that hosted ULI six years ago.

ULI’s 2017 Fall Meeting began on an inspirational note with a gala hosted by the ULI Foundation to honor longtime leading member Roy Hilton March.

Clare DeBriere is former chief operating officer and executive vice president of The Ratkovich Company. In 2017, she founded neighborhood development firm C+C Ventures and is the current chair of ULI Los Angeles. In this video, DeBriere talks about what she loves about the energy and creativity that’s found in Los Angeles, and how ULI brings together the best practitioners in every field of land use.