Building Global Partnerships

The development of partnerships is critical to meet the mission of the Curtis Infrastructure Initiative which identifies and promotes infrastructure solutions that make cities more equitable, resilient, and that enhance long-term community value.

“There’s something unique about infrastructure that goes beyond the distinct site upon which an investment is happening.“

Leslie Woo

Curtis Infrastructure Initiative Global Board Member

We believe that smart infrastructure solutions cannot be met without effective public/private partnerships at the local level. This is why the Curtis Infrastructure Initiative directly supports ULI global member engagement through District Councils, Product Councils, and sharing best practices through forums, webinars, and other convenings.

Some key program goals for developing partnerships include the following:

  • Broaden the definition of infrastructure to better build community and place.
  • Provide technical assistance activity resulting in outcomes such as shifts in policy and practice, change in community/industry prioritization, change in design/planning, and/or new infrastructure projects.
  • Promote locally driven infrastructure investments that create effective public/private partnerships including innovative and traditional financing approaches.
  • Provide replicable, sustainable, and model solutions to communities nationwide and globally.

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Let’s build long-term community value through equitable and resilient infrastructure investments together.

Let's Partner

Photo By ULI

The 52 North American District Councils. Globally, National Councils play a similar role to connect ULI Members to local issues.

District Council Network

ULI’s district council network is at the center of the Curtis Infrastructure Initiative efforts since ULI members at the local level work daily to improve their communities. The Initiative supports program development, research, and convenings related to infrastructure across the network.

The Curtis Infrastructure Initiative has partnered with 10 ULI district councils across North America to provide technical assistance as part of a cohort to help build capacity to reconnect divided communities—physically, socially, and digitally.

District Council Infrastructure Grant Cohort

This cohort of ULI members and staff, local leaders, and other global experts meets regularly over the course of a year to identify key issues, share best practices, and provide updates on projects to support each other in addressing complex infrastructure challenges.

Infrastructure Exchange

The Infrastructure Exchange is a regularly scheduled global forum to promote cutting-edge, forward-looking infrastructure solutions that are equitable, resilient and enhance long-term community value.  Facilitated by Yvonne Yeung, ULI Curtis Infrastructure Fellow, the forum sparks innovative leadership, shares game-changing research and key funding opportunities, and acts as a feedback loop to spotlight trendsetting solutions that transformed communities worldwide. Leveraging on the recent holistic government infrastructure investments in the Americas, the March to July programs will explore how industry leaders can make better decisions to create co-benefits through integrated-infrastructure delivery at a community scale, covering:

  • One environment infrastructure – how to deliver parks, green streets, flood protection/stormwater management, environmental restoration, and utilities in one project
  • One community infrastructure: how to deliver education-social-health-culture-co-work space under one roof
  • One energy infrastructure – how to deliver micro-grid/DE, PV, EV, timber, and circular waste within one eco-district
  • One mobility infrastructure – how to deliver transit, micro-mobility, broadband, smart city system to provide one-trip experience

Showcase how to engage/market, finance/fund, design/construct, operate/maintain infrastructure and real estate assets to extend economic life and community-scale performance. Explore leadership decision framework covering:

  • Leadership – leverage co-leadership to lead forward motion
  • Market – leverage shared data to assess needs and stay current with policies/trends
  • Engagement – create community champions through engagement
  • Entitlement – co-create community-scale performance metrics
  • Design – develop interdisciplinarity design frameworks to bring the best in industries
  • Finance – structure financing partnerships to accelerate delivery, reduce uncertainty and costs

The focus of each session will be the following:

Join us on Friday, June 23 at 12:00pm ET for our fourth session – click here to register.

Infrastructure Forum

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. 

At the ULI 2023 Spring Meeting, the Infrastructure Forum focused on ‘Implementing 15-minute Communities: How Leaders can Align Smart Infrastructure and Land Use Decisions with Real Estate Investments.’  15-minute communities are compact development with mixed-uses and well-connected places where residents and businesses can walk to their daily needs.  It accelerates decarbonization, reduces ecological footprint, increases economic vitality, builds resilience, and advances social equity. Industry leaders will examine how to make smart, forward-focused alignment of infrastructure and land use decisions through multi-infrastructure delivery and co-benefits creation in 6 scalable real-estate prototypes covering:

  • Decarbonize metro regions with a network of 15-minute communities
  • Diversify urban central business districts CBDs into live-in downtowns
  • Densify suburban corridors into multi-generational mixed-use districts
  • Humanize tower towns into resilient retirement and child-friendly communities
  • Transform suburban mall sites into transit and trail-oriented mixed-use hubs
  • Activate exurbs as working landscapes of agrihood and nature-based solutions NBS

Access the recording from the 2023 Spring Infrastructure Forum here.

Product Council Network

Product Councils play a key role in ULI’s mission to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. Through the exchange of information and the sharing of best practices, Council meetings offer industry leaders vital opportunities to further ULI’s mission.

The Curtis Infrastructure Initiative supports those Councils that have a significant infrastructure focus such as the Public Development and Infrastructure Council, the Public/Private Partnership Council, and the Transit-Oriented Development Council. The Initiative also supports local product councils that are run and managed by ULI district councils.

We also strategically engage with other organizations and coalitions such as the Communities First Infrastructure Alliance, the Smart Growth Network, and the Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities to promote equitable and resilient infrastructure solutions that enhance long-term community value.