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At a recent ULI Chicago event, speakers addressed the disruptive technologies that are having an impact on today’s lifestyles and shaping our vision of the future city. What is a reasonable projection of the near future in real estate, and which investments will enable the industry to profit and cities to prosper? Panelists asked whether current trends are pointing us toward a leisure city, a green city, a dystopia, or something in between.

The latest survey of U.S. real estate economists showed a marked increase in expected economic measures, most likely due to federal proposals to reform the tax code, reduce regulatory burdens, and invest in infrastructure. Compared with the same survey from six months ago, real estate economists have higher expectations about gross domestic product (GDP) growth, employment growth, and housing starts.

While the growth of e-commerce and the shifting needs for open and smaller office spaces are having a marginal impact, most of these disruptive forces are still years away from having a substantive negative impact on the retail, office, and other industry sectors, said panelists discussing the latest ULI Real Estate Consensus Forecast during a webinar.

Joseph P. Riley Jr., who led the highly successful revitalization of Charleston, South Carolina, during his 40-year tenure as mayor, has agreed to serve as ULI’s first distinguished visiting fellow. As a distinguished visiting fellow, Riley will offer expertise for several of ULI’s areas of focus, including affordable and workforce housing, sustainable development, improving overall community livability, and public sector leadership in land use decision making.

With arts, office, and recreational offerings, Philadelphia’s Center City is drawing new residents—of various ages—to downtown living.

Over the past year, we’ve spent quite a bit of time examining the intersection of technology and real estate; the topic has dominated real estate sessions at ULI meetings, inspired Institute publications and articles, and come up in informal member-to-member exchanges.

A renowned global investor and the chairman of ULI Asia Pacific reflects on opportunity and risk in a low-interest-rate environment.

Fort Worth’s bold plan of dredging channels and tearing down levies would enhance flood control, connect people with the waterfront—and double the amount of land in the city’s downtown.

Joseph Stecher is a member of ULI and has invested in real estate globally as a principal investor at General Motors Pension Fund, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Today he has his own capital placement agency, Candlewood Investors, and is also a senior adviser to RealConnex, a real estate technology startup. In this opinion piece, he shares how leaders of real estate firms can develop best practices to blend technology into current business practices

The long-predicted generational shift in the hotel industry is starting to happen, according to speakers at ULI’s recent “Hotel and Resort Development: Next Wave of Innovation” conference in La Costa, California. Baby boomers are growing older and millennials are developing as a buying group, forcing developers and operators to rethink developments. Everyone is racing to determine what works—and what doesn’t—as projects look to adjust to the latest trends, speakers said.