The Salt Lake City area experienced a magnitude 5.7 earthquake in March just days after national and state public emergencies were declared in response to the coronavirus pandemic; Los Angeles also experienced a similar-sized earthquake in June. To help municipalities in the Salt Lake City region create a more resilient and equitable disaster response to this and future earthquakes, ULI Utah—with the support of the Institute’s Urban Resilience Program—brought in local and national experts for a webinar on how Utah and other seismically vulnerable places can start preparing today for the “Big One” that could arrive any day.

When the SARS epidemic surfaced in China in 2003, the impact on domestic real estate was severe but fairly short-lived, with rents and prices rebounding quickly once the outbreak had peaked. The fallout from COVID-19, however, promises to be more profound, as shrinking global demand for Chinese products turns the screw on firms that have only recently restarted operations, said industry experts working in the region.

New York and San Francisco are the most expensive cities in the United States for construction, according to Arcadis’s 2020 International Construction Cost Index, produced by international design and consultancy firm Arcadis. Both are in the top five internationally, with London, Hong Kong, and Geneva leading the list overall.

The future of housing is being influenced by evolving demographics, increased urbanization, higher construction costs, and financially constrained consumers who nonetheless demand meaningful, walkable communities, said panelists at the 2020 ULI Housing Conference in Miami. A shower of innovation rains down on the housing designers and builders who sort through options that include prefabricated homes, modular building components, and low-carbon technologies that support sustainable development goals.

A redevelopment plan for a Miami site presented by a team comprising students from Columbia University and Pratt Institute has taken top honors in the 2020 ULI/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition.

Multifamily property managers in the United States are developing a new playbook to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. The primary focus for apartment owners and managers is making sure their residents and employees are safe. At the same time, the industry is very much in the customer service business.

Access lessons learned and best practices from ULI members and other industry leaders around the globe. Register for upcoming ULI webinars and see what is available on demand.

ULI Los Angeles recently hosted a recording of Leading Voices in Real Estate, a podcast hosted by Matt Slepin, founder managing partner of Terra Search and a ULI Foundation Governor. Now in its third year, this podcast also recently featured Spencer Levy, chairman of Americas Research and senior economic advisor for CBRE, talking about COVID-19 and the early signs of impact on the commercial real estate market.

Over the past week, the disruption caused to everyday life by COVID-19 has increased significantly, and it is apparent that limiting contact with other people for an extended period will be required to arrest the spread of the virus. Following the latest guidance from U.S. and Canadian health agencies, our Global Board of Directors has made the decision to cancel the Spring Meeting.

The Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have announced the first cities to be recognized through the Tree Cities of the World program, including Paris, Toronto, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. A total of 59 cities earned this international designation.