Master-Planned Communities
According to John Burns Research, master-planned communities (MPCs) achieved stable U.S. sales in 2025, down 4 percent year over year from roughly 34,000 home sales among top-selling master plans in 2024. Many of them are located in states like Florida and Texas, but not generally in the largest cities. Some of the largest examples are Florida's The Villages and Cadence in Nevada
Moving beyond flat-pad suburbs, Terraine embraces Utah’s foothills with contour-responsive homes and mining-town architecture.
At the ULI Spring Meeting 2025 session “Mastering Innovation: Tech-Driven Transformation of Planned Communities,” two prominent community developers—Laura Cole, senior vice president at Lakewood Ranch, and Fred Balda, president of Hillwood Communities—discussed how digital tools and data are reshaping large-scale developments. Moderated by Cecilian Partners’ Philip Worland, the conversation highlighted the role of technology in revolutionizing both front-end and back-end operations in the master-planned community (MPC) sector.
At the 2025 ULI Spring Meeting, leaders from Oxland Group, Taylor Morrison, and Highland Homes convened for a panel titled “The New Builder/Developer Dynamic: Partnering for Success in a Shifting Market.” Tom Woliver, co-president and founder of Oxland Group, moderated the discussion with Erik Heuser, chief corporate operations officer for Taylor Morrison, and Jeff Stinson, senior vice president of Highland Homes.
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.
Florida’s resilience continues to be a huge and growing priority as existing buildings age and growth across the state remains steady, according to panelists at the 2022 ULI Florida Meeting in Miami. Strategic decisions and plans focused on strength and resiliency are helping mitigate real estate from wind and flooding damage, and serving as lessons to other, more mature communities planning a more resilient future.
Haven Realty Capital and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives have formed a programmatic joint venture to acquire and develop more than $1 billion in new build-to-rent communities throughout the United States. The joint venture comes at a time when new for-sale housing starts have fallen to a two-year low.
ULI has received the 2022 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year Award for the second consecutive year. Announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the award recognizes ENERGY STAR® partner businesses and organizations that demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, and commitment to environmental protection through energy efficiency.
One company is building mobile applications to bring a deeper sense of community and communication to master-planned communities.
Fall meeting attendees toured on foot this dynamic and exciting community in Chicago that is evolving differently than any other Chinatown in America. A neighborhood rich with historic and award-winning contemporary architecture, this proud community is fighting gentrification while retaining its cultural significance.
Registration is open for the 2020 ULI Virtual Fall Meeting, being held October 13–15. An ambitious program is being offered, including tours and networking opportunities that will be facilitated online.
Like bookends, two major developments are transforming southern San Diego County’s city of Chula Vista on its most eastern and western fronts: the 535-acre (216 ha) Chula Vista Bayfront development on the San Diego Bay, and Otay Ranch, which will provide nearly 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of master-planned, multiuse development, with a projected population of more than 110,000.
A graduate student team from Cornell University, two teams from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a team from the University of Maryland have been selected as the four finalists for the 16th annual ULI Hines Student Competition, an ideas competition that provides students the opportunity to devise a comprehensive design and development scheme for a large-scale site in an urban area.
Located 18 miles (29 km) north of Tokyo, the transit-oriented development Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City pioneers an urban planning approach for a resilient neighborhood with an active and vital community. In 2016, Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City became the largest LEED Neighborhood Development Plan Platinum–certified smart city in the world.
Taking the necessary steps to prepare for climate change—and the extreme weather events that go along with it—can be a daunting task. A new report includes separate case studies of distinct adaptation actions from a diverse group of 17 communities across the nation from Boston to El Paso, Texas.
In this 2014 book, now available in paperback, transit advocate Benjamin Ross highlights some of the origins of suburban sprawl in the United States.
Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has transformed Marina Bay into mixed-use urban neighborhood. public open space, and source of drinking water for the country’s 5.4 million residents.
Developers in Colorado—which has a statewide vacancy rate of just 4.5 percent—are responding to increased demands from millennials and baby boomers for housing focused on healthy and intergenerational living, said Patrick Coyle, director of the state’s housing division, at the closing general session of the ULI Housing Opportunity 2014 conference in Denver.
Willowsford is a master-planned community in suburban Washington, D.C., with a range of luxury single-family housing and a wealth of amenities, including a working farm that grows more than 200 varieties of produce for residents.
Retailers large and small, from Wal-Mart and Safeway on down to Local D’Lish and Mayberry Foodstuffs, are reshaping the urban grocery experience. And with traditional grocers like A & P filing for bankruptcy, independent grocers and national chains alike are seeking a place in the multiple-niche urban environment. Read how retailers are meeting city customers’ needs in mixed-use projects in 2011.
