Are you attending ULI’s 2023 Spring Meeting in Toronto? 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 EST), 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 Spring Meeting, please visit the official Spring Meeting website.

Events and convenings are subject to slight revision.

Monday, May 15

2023 Resilience Summit | 8:30 – 4:00pm | Registration Open to All – separate registration required | Summit/Resilience Special Programming

This exclusive event will bring together leaders in the field of real estate and resilience to share practical solutions to protect investments and communities from climate risk while enhancing economic opportunity, environmental performance, and social equity. Hear from leading experts, access engaging tours, and network with ESG leaders from across the industry. Learn more and register here. 

ULI Green Drinks: Resilience Summit Reception and Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability Cocktail Hour | 5:00 – 7:00pm | Invitation Only | Lewis Center for Sustainability Special Programming

In conjunction with the 2023 Resilience Summit Reception, friends and partners of the Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate are welcome to join us for an evening of cocktails and light bites. Please email [email protected] for more information.

Tuesday, May 16

Randall Lewis/ULI Building Healthy Places Forum | 8:00 – 11:30am | Registration Open to ULI Full Members, interested ULI Associate Members may email [email protected] | Building Healthy Places Special Programming

The sixteenth in the series of Building Healthy Places Forums will be held in conjunction with ULI’s Spring Meeting in Toronto. The forum, generously supported by ULI Foundation Governor Randall Lewis, will bring together leaders in health, wellness, and real estate to discuss what they are doing, planning, and observing in the field. The forum will be a content-heavy, interactive discussion and exchange. The forum is being organized in collaboration with ULI member leaders and will focus on sharing information about Toronto-based projects at the intersection of health and the built environment and applying lessons from these projects to the work of forum participants.

ULI Infrastructure Forum| 8:00 – 11:30am | Registration Open to ULI Full Members | Infrastructure Special Programming

The Infrastructure Forum brings together global leaders in infrastructure, land use, real estate, capital market, finance, economics, investment, legal, property management, market analysis, strategy management, sustainability, planning, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, transportation, engineering and other professionals from public, private and non-profit sectors to examine the most pressing infrastructure, land use and real estate decisions of the 21st century. 

The Materials Movement: Creating Value with Low Carbon, Healthy Building Materials | 11:00 – 11:30am | Open to All Attendees | Member Engagement Area

From concrete and steel to lighting fixtures and finishes, the building materials that make up our cities impact people and the environment in profound ways. Growing pressures from regulators, tenants, and investors are driving momentum toward low carbon, healthy materials that help firms and communities meet sustainability, health, and financial goals. Join this brief discussion on strategies for evaluating and selecting better materials in ways that support real estate project success. The discussion will include insights from the ULI’s report, The Materials Movement: Creating Value with Low Carbon, Healthy Building Materials (working title).

A Competitive Edge: Repositioning Buildings with Sustainability as the Value-Add  | 4:00 – 5:00pm | Open to All Attendees | Concurrent Session (Net Zero Mission Priority)

As pressure mounts to maximize returns on value-add investments, owners are identifying innovative strategies and practices through sustainability to achieve that competitive edge. Real estate leaders are taking the buy-low/sell-high vision to new heights by investing in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other decarbonization strategies as part of their repositioning. As the global real estate industry acknowledges its role in addressing climate change and working toward net zero, existing building retrofits are a key piece of the solution. Learn from some industry experts—Hines, Taurus Investment Holdings, and SHARP Development—on their strategies for success.

Resilient Land Use Cohort Dinner & Gathering | 6:00 – 9:00pm | Invitation Only | Resilience Special Programming

Participants in the second Resilient Land Use Cohort (RLUC) are invited to join for dinner and networking.

ULI/Randall Lewis Health Mentorship Dinner | 7:00 – 9:30pm | Invitation Only | Building Healthy Places Special Programming

Wednesday, May 17

Navigating Net Zero: Understanding Transition Risks in Valuation Workshop | 8:30am – 11:30am | Registration Open to All Attendees | ULI Learning Workshop

Transition risks are the policy, legal, market, reputation and technology risks stemming from the drive to net zero carbon (NZC). Join ULI Learning and JLL for a 3-hour session to learn more about how these risks are evolving and what they mean for real estate asset developers, owners, and managers. Connect the dots between the NZC regulatory push from cities, and the market pull from tenants, and how they will increasingly affect valuations and access to capital.

Register to attend here! 

Resilient Land Use Cohort Convening  | 8:00am – 12:00pm | Invitation Only | Resilience Special Programming

Resilient Land Use Cohort (RLUC) participants are invited to join this forum featuring speakers who will be sharing best practices for engaging with frontline communities on climate resilience efforts followed by roundtable discussions on how to implement these practices locally.

ULI Net Zero Imperative (NZI) Global Cohort Coffee Meet-Up | 8:00 – 9:30am | Invitation Only | Greenprint Special Programming

ULI Net Zero Imperative (NZI) participants from cohorts one and two are invited to join an off-site coffee meetup to network and connect with fellow decarbonization leaders during the conference. Location to be shared in a separate invitation.

ULI Coastal Forum | 8:30 – 12:00pm | Registration Open to ULI Full Members| Resilience Special Programming

Join the Urban Resilience Program this Spring for a deep dive into the intersection of nature-based solutions and inclusive development in underserved coastal communities. Centered on the theme of achieving community resilience through promotion of innovative, equitable, and inclusive development along the waterfront, this Spring’s forum event will offer attendees the opportunity to: 

• Engage with the science basis for coastal resilience in the Toronto metro region and throughout North America 
• Learn how coastal development can be inclusive and ensure equitable outcomes for communities 
• Discover metrics and tools to measure and incentivize resilience interventions in coastal communities 
• Understand climate change-related displacement’s potential social and economic impacts 
• Explore the intersection of green development and inclusivity through nature-based solutions 

Register to attend the Coastal Forum today! 

ULI Greenprint Members-Only Breakfast | 9:30am – 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.

Induction Cooking Demo  | 11:00am – 1:00pm | Registration Open to All Attendees | Lewis Center Special Programming

As our cities grow, adapt, and transform due to the severity of climate change, the way we use energy in our buildings will change too. Developing and retrofitting all-electric communities allows us to remedy our addiction to fossil fuels like methane gas to create healthier indoor spaces for us to live.  This is especially the case for our kitchens which expose us to harmful air pollutants when powered by methane gas. 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. This induction cooking demonstration lunch event will equip attendees with the knowledge to understand why we need to transition electrify our buildings, what technology is involved, and how these kitchens work with an in-person demonstration of induction cooking technology. An all-electric kitchen expert and chef, along with a ULI Member Leader will lead the attendees through this experience.

Cookies & Climate: Learn about the ULI Greenprint Community of Practice | 3:00 – 4:30pm | Open to All Attendees | Greenprint Special Programming

Come enjoy cookies and learn about ULI Greenprint, a global community of more than 120 real estate owners, developers, and investors dedicated to accelerating decarbonization across their building portfolios.

How to Make Healthy, Sustainable, and Secure Smart Buildings a Reality | 2:30 – 3:30pm | Open to All Attendees | Concurrent Session*

Smart buildings are not a new concept. For decades, the technology industry and building automation sectors have overpromised and underdelivered in regard to “smart.” Digital capabilities and our practices have since advanced and matured, and now is the time to unlock the value of connected and instrumented devices and systems in buildings. Being intentional and deliberate about your “smart” journey will unleash the potential of your building to be greener, healthier, and more secure, providing more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive experiences. This session will demystify smart buildings and provide a hands-on approach to leveraging the exciting capabilities of today’s digital and experience economy. Through this session, we will explore lessons from today’s leading smart building models worldwide and introduce sustainable practices that can accelerate the successful digitization of the built environment.

*event not supported directly by the Lewis Center

Health-Oriented Communities: Strategies for Reframing Wellness in Development | 4:00 – 5:00pm | Open to All Attendees | Concurrent Sessions*

As large employment and economic drivers, hospitals are powerful community anchors. However, the idea of a health-oriented development challenges hospitals to expand their purpose from being inwardly focused on health repair to an integrated wellness partner that supports a broader idea of community health. Through new partnerships, land use, and public realm design, a model is emerging that enables growth and development of a district and its greater region. This session will explore strategies for new and evolving communities to apply the framework of “social determinants of health” to develop heathier communities at a variety of scales. Project examples will be shared from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to Chicago, Illinois, to Dunedin, New Zealand.

*event not supported directly by the Lewis Center

Accelerating to Net Zero at District Scale: Climate Action and Resiliency in Toronto | 4:00 – 5:00 pm | Open to All Attendees | Concurrent Session*

Climate change is affecting our urban areas significantly. Cities like Toronto are recognized as leaders in climate resilience and have been leading efforts to decarbonize for years. But are they doing enough, rapidly enough, to both dramatically reduce carbon emissions and build resilient and equitable cities that cope with the changes we are already seeing? What should the development industry prepare for as municipalities and states further their goals toward a net zero future?

*event not supported directly by the Lewis Center