Institute’s Work Shows Economic Value, Community-wide Benefits of Building for Resilience    

For more information, contact: Trisha Riggs at 202-624-7086

WASHINGTON (July 6, 2016) – The Urban Land Institute (ULI), a global research and education institute dedicated to responsible land use and building thriving communities, has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the New York Community Trust to raise awareness and encourage the use of resilient building practices in New York City, and to foster a greater understanding among the public and private sector nationwide regarding the many benefits of building for resilience.

Through the New York Community Trust grant, which was awarded to ULI and ULI New York, the institute will leverage the power of its membership, including more than 2,500 members in New York City and more than 38,000 members worldwide, to identify practical approaches to resilience building that help communities be better prepared against rising seas, flooding, and other natural disasters. The grant will enhance the existing work of the urban resilience program administered by ULI’s Center for Sustainability, which seeks to help cities enhance their ability to plan for, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events caused by climate change.

“We must build our cities to endure, and in a warming world that means getting ready for fiercer coastal storms, more heat waves, and rising seas,” said Arturo Garcia-Costas, environmental program officer at The New York Community Trust, “Getting the land-use and real estate communities more engaged in responding to climate change is an absolutely crucial step forward.”

The grant will support two resilience-focused technical assistance panels (TAPs) in New York City that will focus on particularly vulnerable neighborhoods within the city, and which will help inform funding and implementation of resilience-related decisions for those areas. The TAPs, which will be hosted by ULI New York, are part of ULI’s renowned advisory panel program, through which the institute convenes experts representing all aspects of land use and real estate to offer advice on community building in a way that helps mitigate the impacts of climate change, preserve the environment, boost economic prosperity, and foster a high quality of life. As part of this program, ULI has advised communities across the nation, including Norfolk, Virginia; Miami; Portland, Oregon; and Duluth, Minnesota on building for resilience. ULI will distill lessons learned from the TAPs in New York City and other resilience-oriented advisory panels to scale the impact to other urban areas and provide advice and resources to cities that need the assistance.

In addition, the grant will support two national convenings, one in 2016 and one in 2017, to facilitate the exchange of case examples and lessons from New York and other cities advised by ULI for the benefit of city leaders across the nation. These events, which will be held in partnership with the National League of Cities and the U.S. Green Building Council, will bring together real estate professionals from the private sector, environmental experts, and public sector officials to learn from each other and explore how to close the knowledge gap in resilience planning.

“We are delighted with this generous grant from the New York Community Trust,” said Sarene Marshall, executive director of ULI’s Center for Sustainability. “Ultimately, our goal is to reduce the vulnerability of people living in cities to climate risk. We are aiming to accomplish this by shifting the mindset and practices of public and private real estate and land use professionals in New York and elsewhere so they plan for resilience and incorporate resilience strategies into their developments.”

“We look forward to bringing ULI’s expertise on community resilience to New York’s most vulnerable neighborhoods,” said ULI New York Executive Director Felix Ciampa. “This support will enhance our ability to raise awareness of the many economic, environmental and social benefits that result from building for resilience.”

About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute 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 38,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines. For more information, please visit uli.org  or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.