In July of 2012, the community of Mammoth Lakes in California filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The third most-visited ski area in the United States, the community is fighting its way back from the brink.

Far from the gloomy tone of last year’s discussion on the same topic, lifestyle resort developers at ULI’s 2013 Spring Meeting in San Diego were saying: “Viva Mexico!” and touting the success of developments from Virginia to Montana to Hawaii.

Risk, other than literally, is not a four-letter word when investing in Asia real estate. Risk is a fact-of-life that needs to be constantly assessed on the ground, a trio of experts said at a session on Asia real estate capital markets.

Resort developers and operators took a hit during the recession, but are making a cautious comeback, according to a panel at ULI’s Fall Meeting.

How do you guide the resort and real estate businesses through an erratic economy—and the fickle whims of Mother Nature?

Natural assets, combined with inventive design, help transform a global gateway.

Following the resort bust in 2008, many developers, investors, and lenders in the condo-hotel market were left with broken projects. However, they can minimize their losses by converting those properties into traditional hotels or by selling or renting them as multifamily units.

As long as lenders keep a tight grip on their wallets, the much-anticipated trend toward smaller houses probably won’t materialize, according to data presented at the NAHB’s recent annual convention.

People are resuming travel. In some spots hotels are trading at prices that are above where they were in 2007. New York City just experienced record hotel occupancy rates this past May. As long as the market did not get overbuilt, hotels are coming back, says Greg Cory, principal of San Francisco–based Land Use Economics LLC and chairman of ULI’s Recreation Development Council. However, areas that got overbuilt are predicted to take longer to recover.

The Sea Pines Resort in South Carolina, which received the ULI Heritage Award in 1995, has influenced planned communities and the way projects work to balance nature and development