New Report Explores Infrastructure for Compact Development in the Suburbs

The ULI Infrastructure Initiative is pleased to announce the release of a new report, Shifting Suburbs: Reinventing Infrastructure for Compact Development. For compact development to work, developers and municipalities must determine how to plan, fund, and finance the often costly and complicated infrastructure, including transit investments, structured parking, intricate street grids, sidewalks, lighting, and water, sewer, and other utility upgrades.

Shifting Suburbs examines the infrastructure approaches taken by eight suburban redevelopment case studies from across the United States, distilling winning strategies, stumbling blocks, and other lessons learned. The report highlights suburban arterials and first-ring suburbs as areas of particular opportunity—and challenge.

Download a free PDF of the report, watch the release webinar, and learn more here. The report and related activities were generously supported with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

World Economic Forum Summit

ULI vice president for infrastructure Rachel MacCleery participated in the World Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai last month. Read her blog posts about the meeting:

• WEF Summit on the Global Agenda. Speakers at the summit discussed the world’s most pressing issues, including jobs, technology, and global governance.
• Infrastructure Agenda Council Meeting. The WEF Global Agenda Council for Infrastructure will focus on funding and financing issues.

Infrastructure at Fall Meeting

ULI’s Fall Meeting in Denver, Colorado, featured several infrastructure-focused sessions and discussions. Read write-ups:

• The Promises and Perils of MAP-21. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy Beth Osborne and other panelists discussed implications of the new transportation law, and where the action is now.
• Regional Cooperation for Transit: Where Are the Votes? Panelists from Raleigh, Denver, and Minneapolis/Saint Paul described efforts to build regional coalitions to support transit investments.
• U.S. Builds on Public/Private Partnership Model from Canada, U.K. Panelists talked about what the United States can learn from other countries.

Infrastructure in Urban Land

The final article in our Urban Land Business on Board series, which explored the role of the private sector in advancing transit, was published last month. Prepared with input from Infrastructure Update readers (thank you!), the article “Using Special Assessments to Fund Transit” examined how value-capture strategies are being used in Virginia, Maryland, and Atlanta.

Are there other infrastructure-related subjects you’d like us to explore in a new Urban Land magazine series? Let us know by e-mailing us at [email protected].

The ULI Infrastructure Initiative wishes you and yours the happiest of holidays!

Contact us anytime at [email protected], or call 202-624-7162.

Join the ULI network. Learn more about the benefits of ULI membership at uli.org/membership.