Hong Kong
In Part 1 of a three-part interview, the architect behind Shanghai’s Xintiandi reflects on his unconventional path and how preserving historic shikumen reshaped urban redevelopment in China.
In Part 3 of a three-part interview, the veteran architect reflects on construction, creativity, and why experiencing great cities matters more than relying on technology.
Shenzhen’s Nantou Ancient City project represents a groundbreaking approach to revitalizing China’s historic urban villages in a way that preserves their cultural heritage and community fabric. After China’s government designated Shenzhen as a Special Economic Zone in 1980, the city’s more than 400 urban villages grew rapidly to provide informal housing for an influx of migrant workers. The result: high-density residential areas that maximized rental income but often compromised on fire safety and hygiene standards.
How Hong Kong leverages transit and housing to create a master class in healthy, equitable urban density.
At the 2025 ULI Asia Pacific Summit—May 26–29, in Hong Kong—a panel of Asian economic and geopolitical experts addressed one of today’s most immediate global concerns: the implications of U.S.–China economic decoupling and the broader geopolitical shifts reshaping global trade and investment.
Fourteen developments from across Asia have been named winners of the 2025 ULI Asia Pacific Awards for Excellence, one of the real estate industry’s most prestigious honors. Announced at the 2025 ULI Asia Pacific Summit held in May in Hong Kong, this year’s award winners include projects in Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, the Philippines, and Singapore.
The creation of public space from unused, underused, or unequally shared linear spaces in urban areas has been happening for a long time. Major reference points in the architectural and planning worlds are Boston’s Emerald Necklace, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (1878–1896); Freeway Park in Seattle (1972-1976); the Baltimore Inner Harbor (1963–1983); the Promenade Plantée in Paris (1987-1994); and the High Line in New York (2005–2019).
Although market dynamics are changing in countries across Asia, new opportunities are opening up in real estate investment
Conducted in October, the Emerging Trends in Real Estate® survey ranked Tokyo (1), Osaka (2), Sydney (3), and Singapore (4) as the four cities with the best investment prospects for the region. However, MSCI data and anecdotal reports reveal that market disparities are profoundly evident across both geographies and sectors in Asia Pacific.
A new initiative aimed at promoting low-carbon steel in China’s real estate sector has been launched, co-convened by ULI Greenprint, the World Steel Association, and the China Iron and Steel Association. This collaboration unites major real estate developers and steel manufacturers to drive the transition to low-carbon steel production, with the goal of significantly reducing emissions in Mainland China and Hong Kong. China’s steel industry plays a pivotal role in global efforts to combat climate change.
Against the iconic backdrop of Hong Kong’s skyline, a room filled with cross-disciplinary real estate experts engaged in a lively display of unprecedented collaboration. Brightly colored sticky notes plastered across the floor-to-ceiling windows mapped out an intricate web of relationships between developers, tech providers, facility managers, investors, utilities, and more. The pioneering systems change workshop was piloted by ULI APAC Greenprint and aimed to address a critical challenge: how to accelerate climate tech implementations that will lead to long-term sustainability.
Renowned U.S. architect opens up about his extraordinary career in China and the U.S.
The final day of the 2024 ULI Asia Pacific summit in Tokyo featured a capital markets panel with leaders from both European and North American funds, who shared their insights into the region’s real estate markets—and how those markets stack up against their global counterparts.
Twelve developments from across Asia have been selected as winners of the 2024 ULI Asia Pacific Awards for Excellence, one of the real estate industry’s most prestigious honors. Announced at the 2024 ULI Asia Pacific Summit held in May in Tokyo, this year’s award winners include projects in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and the Philippines. These winners will automatically qualify as nominees for the 2024 ULI Global Awards for Excellence, where they will compete against projects from North America and Europe.
With investors across the Asia Pacific continuing to avoid mainstream asset classes as they seek out higher returns and more reliable income streams, attention has turned increasingly to “living assets”—a broadly defined concept that includes the multifamily, senior living, and student housing sectors.
The 2024 Asia Pacific Home Attainability Index by ULI offers a comprehensive overview of housing attainability across the Asia Pacific region. In this third edition, the report includes data from three additional cities—Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Perth—expanding its coverage to 48 cities in 11 countries, namely, Australia, China (including Hong Kong SAR), India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Despite the monetary headwinds and continued economic uncertainty around the world, there is a strong belief that the global real estate industry is at a “pivot point,” with improving prospects ahead for renewed investment activity, according to the latest Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Global Outlook 2024 from PwC and the Urban Land Institute.
The Dasha River Ecological Corridor focuses on the ecological restoration project in the Nanshan district of Shenzhen, China. The project, led by China Resources Land and master planned by AECOM, aims to restore the watercourse that connects the coastal Nanshan district to the northern mountainous area of the city.
ULI Asia Pacific report builds the business case.
With the Asia Pacific region comprising 4.3 billion people and many of the world’s biggest cities, the sheer scale of the sustainability challenge there is daunting. However, asset owners are increasingly using more sustainable designs and technologies to boost the performance of their assets.
As the real estate industry focuses increasingly on the mantra of carbon efficiency, owners and occupiers are scrambling to find ways to reduce carbon footprints. A recent ULI conference in Hong Kong brought together experts across a range of disciplines to discuss the migration to net zero for both new and retrofitted buildings.
ULI is excited to announce the launch of Art in Place, a global cohort of the Institute’s National and District Councils working independently and together to connect artists, developers, and community voices. The program is the next step in ULI’s ongoing commitment to creative placemaking focused on the integration of art, culture, and creativity as levers of community revitalization.
Two of Asia’s leading entrepreneurs gave real estate investors a glimpse into the worlds of Web 3.0 and deep tech at the ULI Asia Pacific Summit.
Technology and contributions from all stakeholders will be crucial if Asia’s cities are to meet their net zero targets. Earlier this year, a series of three webinars organized by ULI China Mainland covered the efforts and challenges of several cities and organizations around the world to give some focus to the efforts in Beijing, which is one of the cities in ULI’s Net Zero Imperative initiative. The discussions also focused on the Chinese capital as well as Hong Kong and Singapore.
Ensuring inclusion and access to all, embodying Hong Kong’s societal values and global identity, safeguarding Hong Kong’s heritage for future generations, and committing to sustainability are among some of the ideas suggested in a new ULI report on how a Hong Kong harbor development can best serve the local community.
Hong Kong is famous for its hospitality industry, but the sector has been under fire for the past three years. Even so, the hotel and food and beverage (F&B) industries have shown resilience and adaptability said panelists during a ULI Hong Kong conference in September.
The Hong Kong government’s recent decision to embrace a new tendering process for the sale of a prime parcel of waterfront land adjoining the Central business district marks a welcome departure from longstanding policy. In the past, such tenders were invariably awarded to the highest bidder without regard to the quality of the proposed development. Now, however, use of a “two-envelope” approach to sell the plot, known as Site 3, means that design also becomes part of the equation.
Communities around the world are racing to control the spread of the novel coronavirus and the disease that it causes, COVID-19. Increasingly, that means implementing aggressive social distancing measures, which can inhibit the spread of the virus and flatten the transmission curve. Given what is known about the virus so far, using building strategies to help slow the spread of the disease makes sense to help protect those who must work in an office or commercial setting and in multifamily settings.
The ambitious development plan promises great rewards, but faces multiple challenges in integrating diverse communities.
The cover package for the 2019 Asia Pacific special issue is titled “Finding Balance: The quest for smart buildings, smart tourism, and smart climate strategies.” Other topics include “South Korea: Heritage at Jeonju Hanok Village,” “ China: Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland Hotel,” “Thailand: Dealing with Bangkok’s Climate Challenge,"and “Interview: Chairman Nicholas Brooke.” This special issue will be available at the ULI Asia Pacific conference in Shanghai and mailed to ULI members in Asia.
