“You have to look globally because the world has been globalizing over the last 20 years,” says Richard M. Rosan, president of the ULI Foundation, which supports ULI through philanthropy. He also served as ULI’s chief executive for 17 years, during which he led the expansion abroad.

Postwar master-planned communities enabled Americans to build their lives around great neighborhoods, schools, and suburban amenities. In the coming years, communities will continue to be comprehensively planned, but implementation will be in smaller increments, experts predict.

The third panel ULI ever conducted, in April 1948, and the most recent one, in June 2011, involved the same city—Indianapolis. The comparison shows that problems faced by cities after World War II—transportation, environmental degradation, overcoming blight, and finding sufficient funds—have not disappeared.

In 1936, no organization existed in the United States to research, analyze, or encourage responsible patterns for long-term urban growth. As ULI begins its next 75 years, the real estate and land use industry has reached a pivotal point with both formidable challenges and promising opportunities. ULI is and will be at the forefront of this change.