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A New ULI Publication, Shifting Suburbs, Examines Creative Use And Adaptation Of Infrastructure To Support Compa ct Development In America’s Suburbs
Source: Urban Land Institute
Successful strategies for creatively using and adapting infrastructure to support more dense development in America’s suburbs are highlighted in Shifting Suburbs: Reinventing Infrastructure for Compact Development, a new report from the Urban Land Institute (ULI).
The report focuses on the growing trend for suburbs to be redesigned and redeveloped to be more people-oriented than car-dependent, offering more options for walking, cycling or using public transit to get from one place to another. With the U.S. population anticipated to grow by 95 million people over the next 30 years, and with the vast majority of this growth expected to occur in the suburbs of metropolitan areas, the challenge of providing the appropriate infrastructure to encourage compact growth has never been more important, notes Shifting Suburbs. Specifically, suburban arterials and first ring suburbs would benefit from the development of new approaches to solving infrastructure and land use challenges, it says.
The steady movement toward more compact suburban growth is being driven in part by Generation Y, a key demographic group (numbering 80 million) entering the housing and jobs market. These young professionals tend to favor the convenience and choices provided by urban-style environments, but often live outside of city centers for employment or financial reasons. Fitting their lifestyle preferences into a suburban setting has, in many markets, triggered a movement to rethink traditional infrastructure design, the report says.
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Shifting Suburbs examines in extensive detail eight suburban infrastructure projects: Bridge Street Corridor in Dublin, Ohio; Aurora Corridor in Shoreline, Wash.; Belmar in Lakewood, Colo.; State Route 7 in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, Fla.; White Flint/Rockville Pike in Montgomery County, Md.; Richardson, Texas; CityCentre in Houston, Tex.; and West End in St. Louis Park, Minn. The report evaluates the significant challenges faced by these places in trying to establish themselves as more compact suburban locations, including overcoming community resistance, obtaining the necessary funding, negotiating cross-jurisdictional planning issues, and establishing the required skill sets among the public and private organizations delivering redevelopment projects.
Emerging Trends in Real Estate(R) Americas
Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Americas
Source: Urban Land Institute
The enduring low-gear real estate recovery should advance further in 2013: Emerging Trends surveys suggest that modest gains in leasing, rents, and pricing will extend across U.S. markets from coast to coast and improve prospects for all property sectors, including housing, which finally begins to recover. Most developers and investors who seek quick wins will remain frustrated as return expectations continue to ratchet down to more realistic but relatively attractive levels providing income plus some appreciation. In fact, real estate assets will almost certainly continue to outperform fixed-income investments in the ultra low-interest-rate environment induced by the Federal Reserve, as well as offer a familiar refuge from ever-seesawing stock markets.
Most areas can sustain little if any new commercial construction, given relatively lackluster tenant demand and the generally weak employment outlook. Only the multifamily housing sector continues to offer solid development opportunities, although interviewees grow more concerned about potential overbuilding in markets with low barriers to entry—probably occurring by 2014 or 2015.
Infrastructure 2012 Highlights Innovative Solutions At State, Regional, Local Level; Points To Impact Of Recession On Infrastructure Funding Worldwide
Source: Urban Land Institute
Global Report from Urban Land Institute, Ernst & Young Finds:
- Fallout from the global recession is reflected in a decline in government infrastructure funding for major projects in Europe and Asia, as well as the U.S.
- More large-scale public works involve public/private ventures as user fees and tolls become part of ultimate funding solutions worldwide
- In the U.S., states and local governments are increasingly adopting “on-their-own” infrastructure funding strategies, looking to fund infrastructure investments with increased sales or gas taxes, bond issues, and user fees, including tolls.
- Innovative local governments are combining new technology and pricing to better manage existing infrastructure and achieve other objectives. Many are looking to solutions that include linking infrastructure and land use and conservation.
+ Full Report (PDF)
ULI Real Estate Consensus Forecast
ULI Real Estate Consensus Forecast (PDF)
Source: Urban Land Institute
- Three-year forecast for 26 economic and real estate indicators
- Responses from 38 leading real estate economists/analysts
- Respondents represent major real estate investment, advisory, and
- research firms and organizations
- Survey undertaken from February 23 to March 12, 2012
- A semiannual survey; next release planned for September 2012
- Forecasts for:
- GDP, employment, inflation, and interest rate indicators
- Property transaction volumes, CMBS issuance, and cap rates
- Property investment returns for four property types
- Vacancy rates and rents for five property types
- Housing starts and price
The New California Dream: How Demographic and Economic Trends May Shape the Housing Market: A Land Use Scenario for 2020 and 2035The New California Dream: How Demographic and Economic Trends May Shape the Housing Market: A Land Use Scenario for 2020 and 2035
In 2008, California passed Senate Bill (SB) 375, an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by redesigning the state’s urban growth patterns. The legislation specifically directs the state’s metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to devise strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled—and hence GHGs—by better matching future housing development with public transit opportunities. As part of the process, the MPOs are required to devise targets for GHG reduction as well as to develop “sustainable communities strategies” that better coordinate land use and transportation decisions.For a state more used to sprawling apart than growing together, it seems a tall order: how do we reverse years of a pattern in which more land is consumed, average commutes lengthen, and environmental damage rises? In this compelling new report, one of our country’s leading land use planners, Arthur C. Nelson, offers an important bit of news for those who worry that ambitious targets are unrealistic: the demographics are on our side.While most of the national focus on our demographic future is on the rising diversity of our population—a fact well known here in California—Nelson points to two equally important changes: the aging of the population and the reduction in the share of households with children. Both mean that as California’s population grows over the next 40 years, it will see a rise in housing demand for smaller lots, multifamily units, and other land use configurations consistent with transit-oriented compact development.The challenge is how we get there from here. Nelson tries to connect the dots by illustrating the shift in the composition of real estate demand and pointing to the opportunity of “recycling” nonresidential land, particularly those lands adjacent to transit systems. Although the specific projections that Nelson offers may be subject to debate, the overall vision is certainly not. We can grow smarter and grow greener, meeting the mandates of SB 375 by planning for the future rather than the past. rather than the past.
Infrastructure 2011: A Strategic Priority
Infrastructure 2011: A Strategic Priority (PDF)
Source: Urban Land Institute
Infrastructure 2011: A Strategic Priority assesses the state of infrastructure in the United States and around the world, examines what the next few years are likely to hold, and provides recommendations for moving forward on the infrastructure investments and strategies that are needed for regions and countries to continue to prosper and grow. Despite increased rhetoric about the importance of infrastructure, states and metropolitan areas are struggling to find funds to make basic repairs on aging systems and to build the new transit and road networks needed to position themselves for future growth.
Infrastructure 2011: A Strategic Priority
Infrastructure 2011: A Strategic Priority
Source: Urban Land Institute
Infrastructure 2011: A Strategic Priority assesses the state of infrastructure in the United States and around the world, examines what the next few years are likely to hold, and provides recommendations for moving forward on the infrastructure investments and strategies that are needed for regions and countries to continue to prosper and grow. Despite increased rhetoric about the importance of infrastructure, states and metropolitan areas are struggling to find funds to make basic repairs on aging systems and to build the new transit and road networks needed to position themselves for future growth.
+ Full Report (PDF)
