Lewis Center Staff Host: Shraeya Madhu, Manager, Decarbonization

Speakers: Laura Mondragon, Senior Director of Climate Resilience and Adaptation at Montgomery County Green Bank & Shalini Vajhala, Founder of PRECollective

Description: Access to capital is one of the biggest barriers to advancing local climate action. Climate finance, which can include innovative lending models, public-private partnerships, and community investment, has the power to unlock opportunities to decarbonize buildings, support small businesses, and make the energy transition more equitable. In this conversation, hear from the Montgomery County Green Bank, one of the nation’s first local green banks, on how they pioneer financing solutions that accelerate clean energy and energy efficiency projects across Maryland. Laura and Shalini will explore how green banks are bridging the gap between private capital and community needs, fostering a more resilient economy and community.

Lewis Center Staff Host: Kara Kokernak, Senior Director Decarbonization

Speaker: Kim Pexton, SVP of Sustainability at JBG Smith

Description: Real estate leaders are thinking carefully about how to optimize building operations for sustainability, health, and resilience. The business case has never been stronger, spanning opportunities to create value, lower costs, meet tenant demand and retain tenants, generate marketing opportunities, and future-proof buildings. Kim Pexton, SVP of Sustainability at JBG SMITH, will provide an overview of company-level strategy for maximizing the co-benefits of healthy, resilient and decarbonized buildings. She’ll also share an asset-level case study of their strategy in action.

Recording

Lewis Center Staff Host: Rachel MacCleery, Executive Director, ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate

Speaker: Scott Snodgrass, Partner at Meristem Communities

Description: Where we live has a profound impact on health and sustainability outcomes – driving opportunities for social interaction, physical activity, energy efficiency, and more. Housing is also the biggest expense for most households (followed by transportation) and is also a major factor in household wealth accumulation. In this conversation, hear from Scott Snodgrass, co-founder of Meristem Communities and developer of Indigo, an innovative new community being built near Houston, Texas. Scott will share his company’s development approach and holistic strategies for health, sustainability, and economic and social inclusion, after which we’ll have a lively conversation with participants.

Recording

Lewis Center Staff Hosts: Matt Norris, Senior Director, Healthy Places & Chris Perkes, Senior Manager, Net Zero Imperative

Speaker: Sara C. Bronin

Description: The application of traditional zoning, designating what land uses can exist in specific locations, can be directly attributed to many of today’s pressing issues, including structural inequities and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, updating zoning practices is necessary to support quality of life in communities throughout the United States, including health, social equity, climate action, and resilience. In this conversation, you’ll hear insights from Sara C. Bronin, Professor, Cornell University; Founder, National Zoning Atlas; and Author, Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World. Sara will spotlight the latest National Zoning Atlas findings on topics relevant to sustainability, including a nationwide overview of zoning practices by jurisdiction, such as multifamily housing/density, minimum lot size, and minimum parking requirements, all which have profound impacts on sustainability outcomes in our cities. Sara will also present an upcoming National Zoning Atlas project which aims to more directly study zoning and health outcomes, such as obesity and respiratory illness. Lastly, Sara will share key findings from her book, Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes our World, which unearths the impacts that zoning has on our daily lives and how it can be leveraged as a tool for more sustainable, equitable, resilient, and healthier cities and communities. 

Recording

Lewis Center Staff Host: Blakely Jarrett, Vice President, Greenprint & Celeste Smith, Manager, Greenprint

Speaker: Jake Elder, Senior Vice President of Research and Innovation at Energy Impact Partners (EIP)

Description: Technology’s role in real estate, land use, and sustainability is ever growing. Jake Elder of Energy Impact Partners will share and dive into three different technologies – clean school transportation, distributed microgrids, and next-gen cooling –  that help further health, resilience, and decarbonization goals in real estate. We will discuss key trends driving technology adoption and detail some real-life case studies that demonstrate the tangible impacts of these technologies.

Recording

Lewis Center Staff Hosts: Chris Perkes, Senior Manager, Net Zero Imperative & Lindsay Brugger, Vice President, Resilience

Speakers: Kira Strong, Senior Program Director at High Line Network; John Rigdon, Chief Planning and Design Officer at Waterloo Greenway; and Celeste Maillard, Community Forest Coordinator at The Underline

Description: The power of nature to influence health and sustainability outcomes in cities has been coming into focus over the past decade. Building upon the conversation started in ULI’s report “Nature Positive and Net Zero” and our Developing Urban Resilience project profiles, this session will explore emerging nature-based solutions through infrastructure reuse projects. In this conversation, you’ll hear insights from the High Line Network, an organization that facilitates a group of infrastructure reuse projects, who will spotlight two nature-powered projects relevant to the shapers of our cities and public realm. Representatives of Waterloo Greenway and The Underline will also provide relevant best practices and lessons learned from Austin, TX and Miami, FL, enabling the group to take action in their own communities to advance dual priorities of ecological health and economic prosperity. These keystone infrastructure reuse projects provide helpful case studies of how to leverage green infrastructure in dense, urban environments to accomplish broad-based sustainability goals.

Recording

Lewis Center Staff Host: Matt Norris, Senior Director, Healthy Places

Speaker: Keith Baker, Executive Director at ReConnect Rondo

Description: