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2011 Winners of Urban Innovation Grants

October 28, 2011

The following 30 projects were awarded Urban Innovation Grants in 2011, thanks to the generous support of the ULI Foundation Annual Fund.

ULI Arizona: CommunityPlan – A Statewide Public Officials Educational Curriculum
ULI Arizona has brought together seven entities to create CommunityPlan, a public-private collaboration that will build decision-making capacity at the local level by delivering an educational workshop curriculum for public officials, an annual conference, and a database of faculty experts responsive to the unique issues and characteristics of Arizona communities. The conference will take place on Dec. 7, 2012.

ULI Atlanta: Atlanta Streetcar Development Strategy
ULI Atlanta, Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, and the city of Atlanta aim to leverage the federal and municipal investment in the Atlanta Streetcar project by organizing a Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) to focus on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the draft Atlanta Streetcar Development Strategy regarding corridor zoning that will support transit-oriented development.

ULI Boston: Hub and Spoke: Core Capacity Transit and Regional Economic Growth
ULI Boston, in collaboration with its two partners, A Better City and Our Transportation Future, will issue a report to heighten Massachusetts public officials’ awareness of the limited capacity of the existing regional transportation system to handle expected growth in the city core and the need to fund solutions to relieve congestion.

ULI British Columbia: Technical Assistance Panel – Lower Mainland Municipality
ULI British Columbia will organize a Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) for the city of Surrey, with a primary focus on transit-oriented development.

ULI Budapest: Budapest Heritage Restoration
ULI Budapest will partner with the city of Budapest to develop a public-private partnership capable of implementing a viable strategy for revitalizing the historic but deteriorated town center with the assistance of an Advisory Services Panel.

ULI Chicago: Aerotropolis: Game Changing Infrastructure for the New Economy
ULI Chicago will convene stakeholders from the public, private, and civic sectors to explore the infrastructure investments and benefits of developing land uses around the Western O’Hare Bypass Project as an “aerotropolis.”

ULI Colorado: Real Estate Diversity Initiative (REDI)
ULI Colorado and its partners in the mayor’s office, local universities and the Hispanic, black and Asian chambers of commerce will build on the great success of their nine-month professional development program, Real Estate Diversity Initiative (REDI), launched in 2009 to recruit women and minorities into the professional real estate development community.

ULI Florida District Councils: “The State We’re In” Conference
The five Florida District Councils joined together to plan and execute a statewide conference organized around the What’s Next? publication and focusing on building better public-private relationships at the regional level.

ULI France: Grand Paris Community Engagement
ULI France is working with the French government to address a workforce housing crisis occurring in Paris. Over the next 15 years, 50,000 homes will be built in the city center. This project will engage residents of Paris’ deprived neighborhoods in the design and governance of a substantial urban redevelopment program.

ULI Hampton Roads: Reality Check
ULI Hampton Roads is partnering with Old Dominion University, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and Hampton Roads Partnership to conduct a Reality Check in May 2012. The result of the Reality Check will be a set of guiding land use principles and a vision for how the community can grow by more than 350,000 over the next 25 years.

ULI Houston: High Impact Development Toolkit – Building Consensus and Transforming Communities
ULI Houston will develop a “High Impact Redevelopment Toolkit” by engaging residents in southeast Houston, ULI members, nonprofit leaders, universities real estate professionals and government officials in a series of charettes, discussions, and analysis. This work builds on previous ULI grants and the city’s participation in the ULI Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership.

ULI Indiana: Regional Council of Mayors
ULI Indiana, in conjunction with mayors and town council presidents from more than 30 communities in central Indiana, will serve as a neutral convening authority for a new Regional Council of Mayors for central Indiana, based on the successful ULI Minnesota Regional Council of Mayors.

ULI Louisiana: Parking Benefits Districts
ULI Louisiana, in collaboration with the Mayor of New Orleans’ Office and six partners from the public, business, and academic sectors, will fund a community symposium, a stakeholder workshop, and a final report describing action steps and recommendations for implementing a Parking Benefits District.

ULI Memphis: Mid-South Forum to Advance Regional Partnerships
ULI Memphis will hold a forum to advance regional partnerships in the Mid-South by inviting national speakers to discuss successful examples of regional approaches to mobility, green infrastructure, and economic competitiveness. A report will be written about indicators that can be developed to measure success at the regional level.

ULI Minnesota: Navigating the New Normal – Public Official Education Program
ULI Minnesota will partner with the Family Housing Fund, the Minnesota Housing Finance Authority, the Metropolitan Council and ULI members to offer a new innovative program, “Navigating the New Normal.” The two-hour workshop for elected and appointed city officials will provide a practical approach to the new challenges of redevelopment due to shifts in the market and changing demographics.

ULI Nashville: Music City Report Card
ULI Nashville, the American Society of Civil Engineers and several Nashville-based universities will create a Music City Infrastructure Report Card to evaluate Nashville’s infrastructure systems and raise awareness about the importance of maintaining and expanding the region’s infrastructure systems for regional growth and development.

ULI North Asia: ULI SAND Study – Phase 2
ULI North Asia will conduct a multi-stakeholders workshop to investigate changing Hong Kong’s regulatory and development practices to ensure more sustainable and integrated large-scale development, based on its recent report on ten principles for sustainable development.

ULI Oklahoma: Revisioning Retail Corridors: Toward a Revitalization Strategy for I-240
ULI Oklahoma and its lead partner, the city of Oklahoma City, will conduct a series of workshops with property owners, businesses, and other stakeholders in the I-240 corridor to study the area and reconsider appropriate land uses. They will also convene a Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) to examine alternatives to the current perception that the I-240 corridor is best suited to retail strip development.

ULI Orange County/Inland Empire: Guide Dogs of the Desert Technical Assistance Panel
ULI Orange County/Inland Empire Young Leaders Group has been conducting pro bono YLG Technical Assistance Panels (TAPs) since 2006. This year, it is conducting a TAP to provide strategic land use advice to the nonprofit Guide Dogs of the Desert.

ULI Richmond: The Real Richmond
ULI Richmond and its partners will organize a three-part meeting series about the need for regional strategies for economic development and land use in preparation for a 2012-13 Reality Check. The result of this process will be engaged, committed partners in the public and private sectors who are informed, readied, and inspired for collaboration around public policy development and action.

ULI Sacramento: The Greater Broadway Partnership
ULI Sacramento and its partner, the Greater Broadway Partnership, will organize a community forum and public workshop to collect public input on a vision plan for the Broadway Corridor. The plan is intended to be a road map and investment strategy to economic revitalization.

ULI San Diego/Tijuana: Powering Innovation Economies
ULI San Diego/Tijuana organized a two-day conference in September 2011, gathering private sector and public sector leaders to learn about the best ideas and techniques for sparking innovation, growing local talent and attracting business to the city.

ULI San Francisco: ULI Development Partnerships Team Building and Certification Program
ULI San Francisco will organize, at the request of the city of San Francisco, monthly workshops about the nuts and bolts of public-private partnerships for a mayor-appointed, multi-agency “Development Partnerships Team.” The workshops will include panels of private developers using case studies to discuss the basis of the development process, real estate finance and pro forma analysis, gap financing methods and negotiations, and methods to streamline the entitlement process.

ULI Singapore: High Density Urban Liveability
ULI Singapore and its partner, the Centre for Liveable Cities, will conduct a study to identify the ten principles for creating a successful “high density and high liveability environment” as well as positive aspects of high density urban living that can be replicated in other communities.

ULI South Carolina: ULI Sustainable Leadership Institute Summit
ULI South Carolina and its public and nonprofit partners will convene the alumni of its Sustainable Leadership Institute for a summit to discuss pressing issues facing the state, including emerging economies, innovation and technology, community building, and more.

ULI Texas: Texas Local Product Councils: Public-Private Partnerships
ULI Austin will partner with ULI North Texas, ULI Houston, and ULI San Antonio to replicate a ULI Austin Product Council of members from the public and private sectors and organize a statewide meeting of these local councils as a means to accelerate the formation of more beneficial public-private partnerships in Texas.

ULI Toronto: John Street Revitalization and Streetscape Plan
Building on a previous Technical Assistance Panel recommendation, ULI Toronto will assist its two public sector partners with the development of the design, construction drawings, and phasing for a streetscape plan that will revitalize John Street from a secondary commercial street into a vibrant environment for existing and future neighborhood retail, restaurants, and cafes.

ULI Triangle: Sustainable Triangle Visioning Workshop
ULI Triangle, in conjunction with its local partners, is proposing to hold a Strategic Visioning Workshop/Charette to convene leaders from the private sector, local and regional governments, educational institutions, and prominent nonprofits to identify opportunities for collaboration and partnership to pursue the next steps of Reality Check from 2009.

ULI UK: Connecting Communities with Olympic Development
Developed around the UrbanPlan framework used in the United States, ULI UK Young Leaders and members will work through a partner organization to provide opportunities for disadvantaged youth in the five host boroughs for the 2012 Olympics to learn about the expected legacy of the Olympic Park and to provide input to the forthcoming Advisory Services Panel about the reuse of the Olympic Park.

ULI Washington: Facing the Future: Embracing the Evolving Federal Workplace Facility Mandates
ULI Washington will partner with the General Services Administration to convene a workshop for federal managers and private sector experts about the future of office space design and construction, given trends in office utilization that are occurring because of budget pressures, changing demographics, and advances in technology.

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