With no end in sight to the boom in urban and close-in suburban multifamily housing construction, developers are eager for ways to save money on ever-increasing land and construction costs. Experts speaking at the 2016 ULI Fall Meeting said that reducing parking requirements and increasing use wood-frame construction for buildings up to five stories could help keep costs in check.

PBS will broadcast a new documentary, 10 Parks That Changed America, on April 12th. Produced by WTTW in Chicago, the program identifies the 10 most influential urban parks in the country, from the era of America’s early settlers to the present day, ranging from the Squares of Savannah, Georgia, to the High Line of New York City.

Robotic vehicles, drones, and other cutting-edge technological advances could soon reshape urban land use as radically as the automobile once did. Here are some leaders’ thoughts on how the future might look.

Released during the Institute’s 2024 Fall Meeting in Las Vegas, Emerging Trends in Real Estate® North America predicts Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami as leaders in 2025

Real estate market participants are in the midst of a “Great Reset” when it comes to adjusting views related to pricing, risk, and return expectations in an environment marked by higher interest rates and slower economic growth. The need to align thinking and strategies to fit current market dynamics is one of the key themes in the 2024 Emerging Trends in Real Estateforecast for the United States and Canada.

ULI’s new report shares promising examples of efforts to reconnect communities divided by highway infrastructure.

Alternative, or nonbank, lenders are filling in gaps in the mortgage world where they find them, whether it be the result of increasing capital requirements for banks, consolidation in the banking sector, or a pullback by commercial mortgage–backed securities lenders. Last year alone, the five largest players in the sector collectively funded some $20 billion of interim loans. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.

ULI’s Building Healthy Places Initiative and the Rose Center for Public Leadership are taking a closer look at auto-oriented commercial strips and their potential to activate healthy behaviors in surrounding communities instead of inhibiting them through demonstration corridors in four geographically diverse and growing cities.

Ten remade shopping centers exemplify opportunities for transformation.

In a general session at the 2024 ULI Spring Meeting, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke with Ralph Rosenberg, a partner and global head of real estate with KKR. Clinton, who now teaches at Columbia University, focused her remarks on what she said are the three major conflicts affecting the global economy.

Experts say the real estate market in our cities is responding to the dramatic changes caused by COVID with a “flight to quality.” This headline suggests optimism that a safe harbor still exists out there as does the fear that we all need to act fast and run (for our lives) before things get bad. It reflects a winnowing to the essential characteristics that can ensure the best overall return and insulate us from the changing winds in the economy.

The Manhattan office market is beginning to make a comeback, but much has changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The persistence of hybrid and remote work have changed the equation for commercial rentals, both in terms of landlord-tenant relationships and the quality of office product on offer.

Fragmented, density-skittish local governments have traditionally dictated the Bay Area’s housing supply, while private sector residential developers have struggled to build within the context of planning regulations often perceived as overly complex. Should housing be the next latest-and-greatest campus amenity?

How public and private interests combined forces to overhaul the transit hub, now home to San Francisco’s tallest building, Salesforce Tower.

Could San Francisco’s landlords finance badly needed earthquake retrofits by converting garages into “granny flats” while also adding badly needed affordable housing?

Canada’s real estate market is in the midst of a pivotal shift as the Bank of Canada (BoC) rolls back what has been “higher for longer” interest rates. Yet despite welcome relief on financing costs, real estate leaders are still moving somewhat cautiously amid uncertainty and fluid market dynamics.

Obsolete buildings will constitute up to 50 percent of all new housing in cities

The winners of the ULI Americas Awards for Excellence become finalists for the 2024 ULI Global Awards for Excellence, competing against projects from the Europe and Asia Pacific regions. The awards are open to projects and programs in the ULI Americas region that are substantially complete, financially viable, and in stable operation. The program evaluates submissions on overall excellence, including achievements in marketplace acceptance, design, planning, technology, amenities, economic impact, management, community engagement, innovation, and sustainability, among others.

TeamLHBK from the University of Cambridge in the UK has been named the winner of the sixth annual ULI Hines Student Competition—Europe.

Although ready to commence a new real estate cycle, real estate leaders globally are braced for another challenging year of uncertainty, with lingering inflation, largely driven by factors including geopolitical instability, and persistently higher interest rates in some regions, potentially delaying a hoped-for recovery in capital markets and occupancy metrics. This is according to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate^® Global Outlook 2025 from PwC and ULI, which provides an important gauge of global sentiment for investment and development prospects, amalgamating and updating three regional reports which canvassed thousands of real estate leaders across Europe, the United States and Asia Pacific.

As buildings become more efficient and run on “cleaner” energy sources, the industry’s attention will need to include embodied carbon—emissions associated with the manufacturing and transportation of building materials, as well as the construction, maintenance and disposal of buildings.

The outlook for the European real estate market is cautiously optimistic despite growing geopolitical uncertainty and concerns about economic growth, with London, Madrid, and Paris emerging as the standout performers, according to a new report by PwC and the Institute.

According to the second annual C Change Survey, 93 percent of respondents report incorporating transition risks into their real estate investment decisions, indicating the industry’s growing awareness and commitment to integrate climate-related financial risks into decision-making processes.

The global head of corporate real estate at one of the world’s biggest banks told attendees at the 2024 ULI Europe Conference in Milan that a lack of sustainable office assets is “one of the biggest challenges” the company faces.

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.

One of Singapore’s most vibrant districts demonstrates how public/private partnerships and the community can shape the built environment.

Governments, businesses, and communities need to collaborate to reduce carbon emissions to ensure that decarbonisation is not just a buzzword.

During his keynote address at the 2024 ULI Singapore Annual Conference, more than 300 participants gathered at the Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay to hear Olivier Lim, chairman of StarHub and the Singapore Tourism Board—based upon his 35 years of experience in real estate, banking, and leadership—how land and real estate shaped Singapore’s path as a nation.