ULI has long been on the forefront of research and best practices for how the real estate, land use, and built environment sectors can address climate change through adaptation, resilience, and mitigation and is committed to helping our cities discover and implement best practice solutions to these challenges.

With support from JPMorgan Chase, ULI will be working with eight communities across the U.S., including Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Tampa Bay, to provide advisory services and technical assistance geared toward developing solutions to help communities prepare for and address a range of climate risks. In each community, the city will partner with the local ULI District Council to accomplish technical assistance related to land use, development and resilience.

Challenging environmental stresses affect the world’s urban areas, including increasingly frequent and intense rainfall, longer droughts, worsening wildfire seasons, and more frequent and severe heat waves. Today’s cities are particularly vulnerable given the compounded crises of potential climate events and the effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic, and these crises put the most vulnerable communities, including low income communities and communities of color, at the greatest risk.

Cities which consider climate change sources and impacts in planning and decision-making will be the most prepared. Increasing equity is also key to enhancing resilience and addressing long-standing racial inequities, ensuring that those with fewer resources are protected.

While changing environmental conditions are visible everywhere, low-income communities, communities of color and otherwise vulnerable communities are the most adversely impacted as their members are more likely to live in locations more vulnerable to climate events and have fewer resources to recover from major climate events. As a result of the pandemic, risk has increased and city response has become more challenging given fiscal impacts, public health concerns and challenges related to social distancing, and typical disaster preparedness practices such as evacuation and shelter management.

“Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges addressing cities today and has become all the more urgent as our cities and communities are also battling COVID-19. ULI’s Urban Resilience Program is eager to support cities at this difficult time and help build bridges between local ULI members, city leaders, and community-based groups.” said Katharine Burgess, vice president of the Urban Resilience Program. “Our work with cities will focus on how to assess climate vulnerabilities and enhance resilience through land use policy, resilient infrastructure, public private partnerships and other strategies”

ULI will be supporting this work through partners in the Institute’s District Council network in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Tampa Bay. These Councils will both complete individual technical assistance projects in partnership with their local municipalities and work together through a peer learning program called the Resilient Land Use Cohort (RLUC).

Through RLUC, ULI will work with cities via its advisory services and technical assistance panel programs, which galvanize the Institute’s member base to provide strategic, unbiased advice to cities on land use and real estate development issues. ULI panels bring real estate and land use professionals together to develop solutions to local land use challenges through dynamic, workshop-style engagements which include significant stakeholder involvement. In order to assist implementation of each expert panel’s recommendations, ULI will also provide long-term coaching and follow-up within the communities. ULI also plans to bring together city staff from all seven communities and ULI’s District Council network through the Cohort, to share lessons learned and strategies to leverage implementation.

In addition to these community-specific panels and ongoing assistance, the grant will enable ULI to produce reports, presentations, and other communications on best practices.

The ULI Foundation is grateful to JPMorgan Chase’s partnership with ULI in helping communities address the impacts and sources of climate change and consider climate change impacts in planning and decision-making.

About the Urban Land Institute

The Urban Land Institute is a global, non-profit real estate organization whose work is driven by its multidisciplinary membership. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 45,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development. For more information, please visit uli.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About the Urban Resilience Program

ULI’s Urban Resilience program provides members, the public, and communities across the United States with information on how to be more resilient in the face of climate change and other environmental vulnerabilities. Established in 2015, the program offers technical assistance, advances knowledge, and catalyzes the adoption of transformative practices for real estate and land use policy, building from the knowledge of ULI members. A central goal is ensuring that efforts to enhance resilience not only reduce vulnerability, but also strengthen cities overall, enhancing environmental performance, economic opportunity, and social equity. For more information, please visit the program’s webpage.

About the Urban Land Institute Foundation

As a charitable organization, classified under 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Service code, the Foundation’s purpose and mission is to financially support and sustain ULI’s education and research programs. In the face of rapid and widespread changes in demographics, populations, economic drivers, technology, and the natural environment, the ULI mission has never been more compelling or relevant. With increased and expanded philanthropic investments in the Foundation, ULI is able to honor its commitment to the cities of the world.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $3.1 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of customers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.