Are you attending ULI’s 2023 Fall Meeting in Los Angeles? Check out the ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability’s “Not So Secret Guide” – your ultimate resource for all sustainability-focused events happening during the Meeting.

The guide provides you with a curated list of events focused on health and wellness, parks and open space, social justice, climate mitigation and adaptation, building performance, and resilience. With brief descriptions, dates, and times (all in PST), you can easily plan your schedule and make the most out of your time at the Meeting. Get ready to take your sustainability game to the next level and engage in discussions about the direction of the real estate industry with the people who shape it!

For more the most detailed and up-to-date information about these events and the rest of the Fall Meeting, please visit the official Fall Meeting website.

Events and convenings are subject to slight revision.

Sunday, October 29th 

ULI/Randall Lewis Health Mentorship Dinner | Time TBD | Invitation Only | Health & Social Equity Special Programming

Participants in the sixth cohort of the ULI/Randall Lewis Health Mentorship Program are invited to join for dinner and networking.

Monday, October 30th

Randall Lewis/Building Healthy Places Forum  | 8:00 – 5:00pm | Open to Full members – Associate members interested in attending can reach out to [email protected]   | Health & Social Equity Special Programming

The seventeenth Randall Lewis/Building Healthy Places Forum, which commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the ULI Building Healthy Places program, will bring together leaders in health, wellness, and real estate to discuss what they are doing, planning, and observing in the field. The forum is being organized in collaboration with ULI member leaders and will focus on sharing information about LA-based projects at the intersection of health and the built environment and applying lessons from these projects to the work of forum participants.

Repositioning Portfolio Assets to be Resilient and Build Community Value | 12:00 – 4:00pm | Open to All Attendees – RSVP Required | Resilience/ULI Learning Special Programming

Join ULI Learning and Gensler for a 4-hour interactive session on how you can reposition your portfolio properties to be resilient in today’s marketplace. Learn what management and design strategies are working to convert downtowns and properties to yield value for investors and communities alike. The session is located in the Los Angeles Convention Center and lunch will be provided – register here.

ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate Reception | 7:00 – 9:00pm | Invitation Only | Lewis Center for Sustainability Special Programming

The Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability invites you to join us for a reception celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Building Healthy Places Initiative. A separate invitation will be sent out – please RSVP and email [email protected] if you are interested in attending and did not receive the invitation.

Tuesday, October 31st 

Demystifying Embodied Carbon: What Real Estate Needs to Know  | 8:00 – 10:30am | Open to All Attendees – RSVP Required | Decarbonization Special Programming

This 2.5-hour event will consist of educational presentations about embodied carbon reduction including case studies, an embodied carbon policy overview and an overview of industry tools. The second half of this event will be dedicated to round table discussions among attendees about myths, misconceptions and strategies around embodied carbon. Attendees will have dedicated time to network and ask questions of presenters.   

Water, Fire, Heat: Strategies for Climate-Resilient Real Estate | 9:00 – 9:30am | Open to All Attendees | Member Engagement Area

Record-breaking droughts, extreme heat, and megafires exacerbated by climate change have established a new normal that threatens communities and challenges the future of our built environment. These climate impacts severely affect communities where there continues to be population growth, building tension between heightened risk and real estate demand. This session will feature best practices and case studies for incorporating water-saving, heat-mitigating, and fire-wise measures into real estate projects, which help mitigate those risks and enhance asset value and resilience.

Buildings as Carbon Banks: The Future is Now | 9:30 – 10:00am | Open to All Attendees | Member Engagement Area*

Mitigating climate change is the ultimate design challenge. Our buildings and cities account for 45% of all GHG emissions, including their operational energy and upfront carbon (or embodied carbon). We have little time to reinvent our low carbon future, and to succeed we have to make our buildings and cities better than ever before. In this session we propose we are at a moment of transformation, from construction as-we-know-it, to a paradigm of low-carbon manufactured assembly: more efficient, inspired, less wasteful and setting the stage for recyclable cities. Examples include recently completed buildings ranging from public buildings, offices, classrooms and hotel to a boutique wine village and healthcare.

*event not supported directly by the Lewis Center

A New Bottom Line: The Value and Impact of Placemaking | 1:00 – 2:00pm | Open to All Attendees | Concurrent Session

Placemaking contributes to more accessible, resilient, and vibrant communities that turn spaces into cultural destinations for community members and businesses alike. Learn from the academic researchers and industry leaders behind this groundbreaking study and see how creative placemaking can introduce more dwell time, positive perceptions, and economic buzz in your space. Presented in partnership with the ULI Art in Place. 

In This Economy? Green Financing to Drive Net Zero Buildings  | 2:30 – 3:30pm | Open to All Attendees| Concurrent Session (Net Zero Mission Priority)

There is a common concern that incorporating sustainability in new developments and existing renovations is cost-prohibitive. However, numerous green finance initiatives exist to address this challenge. This session will explore several approaches to green finance for the real estate sector: green bonds, green loans, C-PACE loans, IRA funding, and other local green financing mechanisms. In addition to a short overview of each, real estate practitioners will highlight specific use cases that demonstrate the diverse opportunities for financing low-carbon projects to make the business case that enables accelerated building decarbonization.

SoFi Stadium: Influencing the Future of Design with Resilience and Impact  | 2:30 – 3:30pm | Open to All Attendees | Concurrent Session*

District Energy Systems: A Potential Catalyst for Equitable Urban Decarbonization in LA and Beyond| 3:30 – 4:00pm | Open to All Attendees | Special Program

Wednesday, November 1st 

ULI Art in Place Breakfast + Tour | 8:0am – 10:00am | Invitation Required | Placemaking Special Programming

Leaders working in real estate and placemaking will assemble for informal conversations over breakfast, followed by an inspiring tour of a downtown LA development that epitomizes creative placemaking and the connection of art and real estate.

District Council Sustainability Leaders Gathering | 7:45 – 9:00am | Invitation Only | Lewis Center for Sustainability Special Programming

The ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate invites District Council sustainability leaders to convene for an information session over coffee and breakfast to collaborate on ways to share best practices in sustainability. Please reach out to [email protected] if you are interested in attending but did not receive an invitation.

Greenprint Members-Only Breakfast | 9:00 – 11:00am | Invitation Only | Greenprint Special Programming

ULI Greenprint real estate members are invited to join an off-site breakfast meetup to network and connect with fellow ESG leaders during the conference. Location to be shared in a separate invitation.

Future Proofing America: Aligning the Built Environment with Disaster Risk Mitigation | 10:30 – 11:30pm | Open to All Attendees | Concurrent Session*

From the success of Babcock Ranch during Hurricane Ian to the redesign of Sonoma, California, after repetitive fires, the alignment of private, philanthropic, and public partnerships to address immediate and long-term risk mitigation is ready for scaling to over 1,400 census tracks identified as resilience zones. The panel will detail a new “Framework for Future Proofing America” designed by representatives of the panel. 

*event not supported directly by the Lewis Center

ESG Innovators in Real Estate  | 1:00pm – 2:30pm | Open to All Attendees | Member Engagement Area

What innovative technologies and services are driving sustainability in the real estate sector? The industry is in a state of continuous innovation to evolve with the growing standards of building performance and environmental solutions available to owners, managers, and developers of real estate. Join ULI Greenprint’s Innovation Partners along with real estate leaders as they talk through commercially ready innovations that are advancing ESG and adding value to portfolios.

A Chef & Developer: Induction Cooking Demo & Lunch  | 11:30am – 1:00pm | Open to All Attendees – RSVP Required | Lewis Center Special Programming

The all-electric kitchen of the future uses the latest technology powered by electricity and is smarter, safer, higher performing, and free of fossil fuels. Join us for an induction cooking and electric home experience and presentation, complete with a delicious (all-electric made) lunch. 

ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate Advisory Board Meeting/Lunch | 1:00 – 2:30pm | Invitation Required | Lewis Center Special Programming

Building Healthy Places: The Case for Equity – Metrics and Financial Returns | 1:00 – 2:00pm | Open to All Attendees | Concurrent Session*

Financial institutions and real estate development companies should revisit narrow and outdated approaches to market research, risk management, and financial modeling that further such inequities. There is compelling data to support the case for equity, and this panel will focus on best practices to support the industry and those we hope to impact. 

*event not supported directly by the Lewis Center

Decarbonizing and Beyond: Two Net Zero Developments  | 2:00 – 2:30pm | Open to All Attendees | Member Engagement Area

This session will feature two net zero developments. HopeWorks Station North, located in Everett, WA was the Americas Award for Excellence Winner in 2022 and ULI recently published a net zero deal profile on this project. Aero Long Beach is an all electric campus which is performing well on energy efficiency since opening and has significant onsite solar generation. 

Net Zero for Whom? Real Estate, Social Equity, and Decarbonization | 2:30 – 3:30pm | Open to All Attendees | Concurrent Session

The real estate sector has an enormous role to play in dismantling existing inequities in our industry that hold us back from full decarbonization, and luckily, prioritizing social and racial equity within decarbonization helps realize better ESG and real estate outcomes for all. Join this session to hear leaders in the field, like Tishman Speyer, Nuveen, and Bridging the Gap Development, talk about their efforts to decarbonize equitably, drawing from ULI Greenprint’s recent report, Net Zero for All: A Just Transition for Real Estate. 

Donuts & Decarbonization  | 3:00 – 4:30 pm | Open to All Attendees | Decarbonization Special Programming

ULI Greenprint is a global community of more than 120 real estate owner, developer, and investor firms with a shared commitment to decarbonization. At this drop-in event, come enjoy donuts, coffee, and tea and meet ULI Greenprint members and ULI staff to learn more about the program.

Merging ESG and Islamic Finance Principles for Sustainable Real Estate Investment Success | 3:30 – 4:00 pm | Open to All Attendees | Member Engagement Area*

Seydina Fall, Senior Lecturer at Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business will speak about how greener investments can be successful real estate deals. Islamic Finance is a principles-based approach to investing. It uses criteria such as shared reward, a reliance on real underlying assets and the avoidance of pure financial transactions, as well as accountability, transparency, and the prohibition of certain products and services.

*event not supported directly by the Lewis Center