Issues and Trends
In 2014, a ULI Advisory Service panel made recommendations about the future use and preservation of Houston’s Astrodome, among the first indoor sports facilities in the world.
In Jersey City, N.J., commuters recently started using what is believed to be the first moving sidewalk designed as a permanent facility for the large-scale movement of pedestrian traffic.
The reimagining of master-planned communities, cutting-edge data centers, advanced lab spaces, and the new breed of elite hotels were discussed at the 20th ULI Arizona Trends Day.
October 1970: In a story titled “Computerized Cash Flow Analysis: A New Way to Evaluate Cash Project Feasibility,” the authors, John Hysom and Charles Juengling write, “In land development, cash flow has always been an important factor. In 1970, however, with both long-term and short-term financing at record interest levels, it has now become imperative that buildings and developers have as accurate a projection of cash flows, expenses, and income as possible.”
When my wife and I moved back to the Los Angeles area in 2000, we bought a three-bedroom Spanish-style home two blocks south of the Altadena/Pasadena border, and just a few blocks from the neighborhoods lost in the Eaton fire this past January. It was a special home for us: our first child was born there, and we loved starting our family in such a racially and socio-economically diverse residential community.
ULI and research partner RCLCO have released the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing’s 2025 Home Attainability Index, a data-rich tool measuring affordability, connectivity, racial disparity, and growth across the United States at the MSA, county, and census tract levels.
ULI New York recently hosted a panel “The Changing Face of Commercial Real Estate—a Program in Recognition of Black History Month,” through a partnership among ULI New York, the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), and Council of Urban Real Estate (CURE), at REBNY’s Manhattan office, highlighting successful professionals of color.
In the journey toward embedding racial equity in real estate development, the 10 Principles for Embedding Racial Equity Development report, published by Urban Land Institute, serves as more than just a set of guidelines—they are seeds of transformation. When thoughtfully planted in the soil of our companies, projects, and communities, these seeds have the potential to grow into something profound: stronger, more equitable systems that uplift everyone.
A group of experts representing ULI visited Buffalo, New York, last November to make recommendations for reviving the city’s Jefferson Avenue Corridor, the main thoroughfare of a historically black area that has suffered a decline in commercial, social, and civic activity and engagement as the result of decades of disinvestment and a recent racially motivated shooting.
Launched in 2022 with the release of its foundational report, Homeless to Housed: The ULI Perspective, ULI’s Homeless to Housed (H2H) initiative aims to address the U.S. housing and homelessness crises through real estate–driven solutions that emphasize a new degree of affordability and necessary connections to supportive services. The early work reflected in the report brought to light the real estate development community’s ability to deploy expertise and resources in addressing homelessness in the communities where ULI members live and work.