Issues and Trends
ULI’s Issues & Trends coverage provides timely, expert-driven analysis of the most impactful forces shaping real estate and urban development today. By publishing articles on topics like housing affordability, homelessness, water-wise land use policy, and the data center boom, ULI highlights emerging challenges, innovative solutions, and shifting market dynamics that matter most to developers, planners, investors, and policymakers. This mix of insights, convenings, and issue-spotlighting helps the industry anticipate change, rethink strategies, and make informed decisions in a rapidly evolving built-environment landscape.
More than a year after wildfires devastated one of Los Angeles County’s most venerable Black communities, architects, planners, and real estate leaders strive to ensure that rebuilding does not mean displacement.
Decades of underfunded upkeep across federal properties have created a mounting repair backlog that threatens agency operations and could grow dramatically without portfolio reductions and policy reforms.
Amid a variety of forces—geopolitical, economic, and organizational—requiring a recalibration of terminology and workforce management approaches, the commercial real estate industry shows signs that it is continuing to invest in strategies to foster belonging and inclusion. This is one of the key findings from the recently released Global Real Estate Workforce Survey (Volume IV), which offers a timely overview of how firms are managing the ongoing challenges.
Redevelopment and one family’s fight reshaped a city.
From Minnesota to New Orleans, the Institute’s Real Estate Diversity Initiative is building a more inclusive pipeline of developers through hands-on training, mentorship, and community-based partnerships.
U.S. House and Senate housing bills now moving toward reconciliation would reshape federal policies that affect housing supply, finance, zoning incentives, and development feasibility across markets.
A veteran planning leader reflects on partnership, mentorship, and the practical work of shaping resilient cities across the country.
McCoy, a pioneering investment banker and widely respected real estate counselor, died on January 25, 2026, at age 88.
Juanita Hardy’s role as a champion of art and culture traces back three decades to her days as an IBM executive. Four years ago, she was recognized as an art advocate and collector by The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. Her business acumen and penchant for real estate development led her to the Urban Land Institute a decade ago. As vice chair of its Placemaking Council, she advocates for best practices that aid in creating inclusive, sustainable communities.
Durkin joins ULI from BlackRock senior leadership, where he held the position of global head of real estate research and strategy. His appointment as CEO Europe marks a continuation of the Institute’s mission and momentum, reinforcing its focus on member value, decision-making relevance, and long-term impact across the built environment at a time of significant change for the industry in Europe and globally.
How Urban Land chronicled real estate’s boom-and-bust cycles from the 1970s through the 1980s—tracking inflation, energy shocks, technology shifts, and overbuilding as they reshaped cities and markets.
During a Women’s Leadership Initiative program hosted by ULI Washington, artists, developers, and cultural leaders made the case that art embedded early—and paid for fairly—is essential to community identity, economic value, and long-term resilience
Nine federal properties across the Southeast are under review as policymakers weigh consolidation, disposal, and adaptive reuse strategies to reduce costs and return underused buildings to local communities.
In November 2024, ULI’s Advisory Services program partnered with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Buffalo Branch, the Buffalo Urban League, and local civic leaders to support the revitalization of Buffalo’s historic Jefferson Avenue Corridor.
The ULI Americas District Council Showcase of Excellence Awards celebrates achievement by District Councils as it relates to ULI’s mission and primary areas of focus, with particular attention given to programs that are both innovative in their format or approach to the subject matter and replicable at other District Councils. The ULI Americas region’s 58 District Councils submit the best of more than 2,000 programs held each year, with awards given, in each category, for District Councils with fewer than 600 members, and for District Councils with more than 600 members.
As 2025 draws to a close, the year’s most-read articles in Urban Land magazine reflect a pivotal moment in urban development. Themes reflected this year include resilience against climate-driven disasters, ambitious waterfront and downtown revitalizations, stabilizing construction economics, entertainment-anchored urban renewal, and innovative housing strategies. These stories also capture the industry’s focus on adaptive, inclusive, and forward-thinking land use.
Singapore real estate veterans at a Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) event last month suggested that finding your own voice, challenging yourself, and not over-planning can help women in the industry to progress in interesting and worthwhile careers.
In October 2025, ULI convened the Water Wise Development Coalition to discuss the latest updates on water and land use policy and their implications for both the real estate industry and the country as a whole. The meeting brought together land use experts, real estate professionals, and public sector decision makers. Guest speakers included Kelly Connolly Kern, director of public affairs at the Alliance for Water Efficiency, and Lindsay Rogers, policy manager for municipal conservation at Western Resource Advocates.
Last week, during ULI Washington’s Fourth Annual Future Forum, held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., a panel titled “Housing from All Angles” brought together three experts to examine the intersection of homelessness, development, and housing finance.
ULI’s Homeless to Housed (H2H) initiative, launched after publication of the report Homeless to Housed: The ULI Perspective in 2022, highlights the numerous real estate-driven solutions that have been undertaken in recent years to tackle the problems of affordable housing and homelessness in cities across the country.
Data center demand is exploding as AI and always‑on digital life fuel the sector, which is far outpacing the broader commercial real estate market. Yet a lack of power-adjacent land and increasingly complex approval processes are now slowing projects and threatening to put a ceiling on that growth.
The ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing has announced two winners for this year’s Jack Kemp Excellence in Affordable and Workforce Housing Award and three winners for the Center’s Award for Innovation in Attainable Housing. “ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Housing is excited to present the 2025 winners of the Kemp and Innovation awards,” said Aimee Witteman, Chief Impact Officer at ULI. “Each winner is showing the industry how to create more inclusive and affordable communities through housing production.”
Third edition evaluates top 30 global powerhouses report reveals world’s leading urban hubs rise in popularity post pandemic. Challenges include new economic conditions, rising costs, adaptation to hybrid work, innovation gaps, the climate imperative, and transition to social, mixed-use districts.
Guy Kawasaki—chief evangelist at Canva, former chief evangelist for Apple, and bestselling author—summed up insights gleaned from his years in tech and as host of the Remarkable People podcast, interviewing such luminaries as Margaret Atwood, Tony Fauci, Jane Goodall, and Steve Wozniak.
As congregations across North America grapple with shrinking membership and aging facilities, a new opportunity is emerging: transforming faith-owned land into affordable housing and community-serving spaces. At the 2025 ULI Fall Meeting in San Francisco, panelists in the session “Spiritual Brownfields: Declining Congregations and Opportunities for Housing on Faith-Owned Land” explored how churches and developers are partnering to bring mission-driven housing to underused sacred sites.
A panel of insiders reveals what’s true—and false—about the housing crisis and how to fix it.
Concerns about deglobalization surge, AI revolutionizes real estate, and top European cities for investment identified as London, Madrid, Paris, Berlin, and Amsterdam
Most people walking Denver’s 16th Street today won’t stop to admire its drainage system or its suspended paving soil cells. They may not notice the careful choreography of trees, transit, and human movement as they stroll the pedestrian-oriented thoroughfare. What they will notice, ideally, is that something about the street just feels better. This kind of sublime shift reveals itself through human experience.
Economists predict better liquidity and resilience ahead, but banks are likely to remain cautious about new loans.
The evolution of community efforts to improve access to housing reveals that successful projects often hinge on fostering strong local partnerships that can provide essential supports and services.
