Parks Technical Assistance
ULI hosts Advisory Services and Technical Assistance panels centered on parks, with goals that include:
- Promoting and improving equitable access to parks
- Identifying solutions to local park challenges
- Exploring opportunities for cities, towns, residents, and the real estate industry to support and benefit from park investments
Advisory Services Panels (ASPs) are typically five-day-long convenings of national panelists to tackle local challenges. ASPs bring together the best and brightest from ULI’s diverse membership, including developers, planners, park professionals, market analysts, designers, public officials, and others, to provide practical solutions and objective advice not available from any other source.
Technical Assistance Panels (TAPs) are typically one-and-a-half-day sessions in which multidisciplinary teams of five to eight real estate development professionals tour the site under review, interview local stakeholders, and meet to develop recommendations that are presented publicly at the end of the session and in a follow-up report.
ULI previously offered National Study Visits (NSVs) to support cities in advancing their park access goals. Through NSVs, communities worked together with ULI District Councils and national experts, to better understand park challenges and identify strategies to overcome park access barriers and park quality deficiencies.
Advisory Services Panels on Parks
| Report | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Meridian, Idaho (report forthcoming) | Explores strategies to bridge gaps in the existing trail network, with a focus on the city’s rapid growth. | August 2022 |
| Denver, Colorado (report forthcoming) | Centers on reimagining Speer Boulevard--a major downtown thoroughfare--with a focus on parks and trails, pedestrian safety, and equitable economic development. | July 2022 |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (report forthcoming) | Focuses on equitable funding strategies and community needs related to the vast and under-resourced West Fairmount Park. | May 2022 |
| Charlotte, North Carolina (report forthcoming) | Explores possibilities for open space in Charlotte’s North End. | October 2021 |
| Norfolk, Virginia | Provides strategic recommendations for the Elizabeth River Trail, including how to leverage the trail to ensure it is a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community asset that supports economic and climate resilience. | July 2021 |
| Ada County, Idaho | Analyzes multiple scenarios for the revitalization and potential development of the 247-acre Expo Idaho site. | June 2021 |
| Kansas City, Missouri | Provides recommendations to the Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation Department on the creation of an equitable park system. | December 2019 |
| Fort Lauderdale | Provides recommendations on how to enhance parks and open space in the city’s urban core, and how to develop a new vision for Downtown’s most prominent park, Huizenga Plaza. | October 2019 |
| Austin, Texas | Makes recommendations to The Trail Foundation and the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department on the feasibility of transferring the operation of the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail at Lady Bird Lake to The Trail Foundation. | August 2019 |
| The Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas | Provides strategic advice on the transformation of the eastern portion of the Hemisfair World's Fair site into an urban district with park space that serves as a focal point for the community. | April 2019 |
| Detroit, Michigan | Considers strategies related to suitable financial methods and models to support the city’s growing portfolio of parks, open space, and trails. | April 2019 |
| The Stitch in Atlanta, Georgia | Shares recommendations for "the Stitch," a concept to reclaim approximately 14 acres of urban greenspace atop a new platform structure over the I-75/85 Downtown Connector, an Interstate that bisects Atlanta’s downtown. | February 2019 |
| Sacramento, California | Makes recommendations to the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) and its partners about future land-use and development scenarios around two transit stations in South Sacramento, including opportunities to provide new park space. | September 2018 |
| St. Paul, Minnesota (Rondo neighborhood) | Provides recommendations related to the development of a “freeway lid” to link neighborhoods adjacent to Interstate 94 with a park or series of parks that straddle the freeway. | March 2018 |
Articles Highlighting Park-Focused Advisory Services Panels
“Creating Funding Mechanisms for a Revived Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.” Urban Land, June 23, 2022.
“ULI Advisory Services Panel Charts Path for More Equitable Kansas City Parks System.” Urban Land, December 11, 2019.
“Finding a Funding Solution to Maintain Detroit’s Parks,” Urban Land, May 2, 2019.
“To Woo Millennials, Atlanta Considers Covering Highways With Parks,” The Wall Street Journal, January 1, 2019.
“The Urban Land Institute To Advise Central Atlanta Progress On Planning And Development Of The ‘Stitch,’ A Proposal For Vibrant Park Space Along I-75 And I-85 Connector,” Saporta Report, February 18, 2019.
“Planning for Equitable Transit-Oriented Development in Sacramento,” Urban Land, November 12, 2018.
“How to connect and heal St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood,” Star Tribune, February 16, 2021.
“Deck parks’ restore community ties in neighborhoods divided by highways,” The Christian Science Monitor, July 30, 2018.
“Reconnecting a Bisected Neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota,” Urban Land, March 29, 2018.
“Fired up about Rondo’: Land-bridge concept for St. Paul neighborhood gets a boost,” Minnesota Post, March 28, 2018.
“Support builds for bridge over I-94 in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood,” Star Tribune, March 24, 2018.
Technical Assistance Panels and National Study Visits
| Report | Description | Location/District Council | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Rapids, Michigan | Focuses on developing a land acquisition strategy to support equitable park access. | Grand Rapids, MI | March 2019 |
| Lewisville, Texas (The Triangle) | Focuses on strategies to ensure park access and connectivity for existing and future residents of "The Triangle," a community bounded by highways and arterial roadways. | Lewisville, TX | March 2019 |
| Camden, New Jersey (Cramer Hill) | Provides recommendations for marketing, programming, governing, and maximizing the benefits of a new 62-acre park space on the site of a former landfill. | Camden, NJ | October 2019 |
| Los Angeles, California (Boyle Heights) | Provides guidance on improving park quality and access in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, including via strategic alignment among city departments and agencies. | Los Angeles, CA | November 2019 |
| Memphis, Tennessee (South Memphis) | Centers on how to leverage existing parks to improve community and economic development and community cohesion. | Memphis, TN | January 2020 |
| Lynnwood, Washington (City Center) | Focuses on the role of parks and the public realm within the vision for City Center--where a new light rail stop is expected to attract additional residents to an area currently characterized by parking lots and strip malls. | Lynnwood, WA | February 2020 |