For more information, contact:
Trisha Riggs at 202/624-7086
Robert Krueger at 202/624-7051

WASHINGTON (August 28, 2014) – Creating resilient communities that are economically prosperous and environmentally sustainable is the focus of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Building the Resilient City: Risks and Opportunities conference, set for September 4-5, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, California.

The conference will feature experts from various industry sectors exploring the connection between energy and resilience, looking at the critical role of risk and insurance, learning from communities that have faced challenges, and identifying how risk and resilience impact real estate investment decisions.  The program will include sessions on best practices in San Francisco Bay Area resilience planning; the evolving economics of pricing risk to building; leveraging green infrastructure to create value and reduce risk; how capital providers weigh resilience; and the business of resilience in the San Francisco.

The conference was organized as part of ULI’s Urban Resilience Program, which aims to provide leadership on how to build stronger, more adaptive buildings and cities. It is being funded in part by The Kresge Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which are providing support for ULI’s work on strengthening community resilience. In addition to the Building the Resilient City conference, the program’s work includes numerous efforts that connect resilience to land use, including several ULI advisory service panels providing guidance on community building that boosts economic prosperity and preserves the environment.

According to Patrick L. Phillips, ULI chief executive officer, both new building and rebuilding in the twenty-first century should be viewed as an opportunity to reduce disaster-related risk. “Advancing knowledge of the relationship between climate change and land use helps investors make sound real estate decisions, but more importantly, it helps increase overall community resilience while enhancing livability and protecting our natural resources,” Phillips said.

Margaret Davidson, senior leader for coastal inundation and resilience at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service, will present the latest insights into climate change’s impact and sustainable coastal development during her opening keynote session. Davidson is headlining an impressive lineup of experts in real estate, finance, climate risk, and policy. Other featured speakers include:

• Harriet Tregoning, the new director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Economic Resilience, will discuss the role of the federal government in creating resilient cities, how barriers to creating public/private partnerships can be overcome, and HUD’s newest sustainability efforts.
• Paul Hawken, environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author, will be part of a panel discussion with Peter Calthorpe, principal at Calthorpe Associates, and Dan Siegel, executive director of the Mindsight Institute, on the ways in which people are responding to the stresses of climate change impact.

The conference is being chaired by Hamid R. Moghadam, chairman and chief executive officer of Prologis, and Jonathan F.P. Rose, president of Jonathan Rose Companies LLC.  Moghadam and Rose will both take part in a panel discussion with ULI Chairman Lynn Thurber about how the real estate industry can play a leading role in creating resilient communities.

In addition to The Kresge Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation, the conference is being supported by sponsorship from Arup, Perkins+Will, Skanska, Gensler, Tishman Speyer, WoodWorks, SWA, Trimble, and Cooper, Robertson & Partner.

NOTE TO EDITORS AND REPORTERS: The full conference agenda is now available online.  Registration for working members of the media is complimentary. This includes credentialed editors, reporters, producers, camera crews, still photographers, bloggers, and freelancers. To reserve your press pass, submit your request here.

About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. 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 32,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.