This past summer, television, radio, and print sources consulted the ULI Infrastructure Initiative’s staff and global infrastructure report for insights and opinions on infrastructure trends, challenges, and opportunities.

In a piece that aired on American University Radio in August, ULI Infrastructure Initiative Vice President Rachel MacCleery weighed in the need to increase U.S. infrastructure investment nationally. The piece explored the need to find sustainable sources of infrastructure funding. In an early August television interview with RT America, MacCleery emphasized the importance of investing in infrastructure and its role in providing the foundation for metropolitan prosperity. MacCleery cited local innovations as “pockets of progress” across the country.

In June, American City & Country explored themes in Infrastructure 2012: Spotlight on Leadership in its article Creativity Pays Off for Communities Seeking to Repair or Build Infrastructure, focusing on the use of ballot measures to fund infrastructure. MacCleery is quoted as saying, “It comes down to leadership. Places that want to invest in infrastructure, they often have strong leaders that are really making the case. Mayors, city council people, chambers of commerce, all are talking about the importance of infrastructure and investment in the future of communities.”

GlobeSt also cited the global infrastructure report in its July/August issue of Real Estate Forum. The State of Infrastructure 2012 scans current infrastructure trends, referring to obstacles in front of U.S. high-speed rail and the broader implications of the widening of the Panama Canal.

Multi-Housing News featured MacCleery in its July article Cities Sign On for Light Rail, which reported on the increased demand for transit-oriented development in medium- and small-sized cities. More people, especially Gen Yers, are seeking out communities with choices and a diverse combination of amenities like transit.

Infrastructure finance caught the eye of reporters too. MacCleery was consulted in the September 4 Bloomberg Real Estate Law & Industry Report in the article U.S. Infrastructure Bank Could Generate Private Participation and Confidence. Based on ULI’s research of infrastructure bank models in Europe and California, MacCleery stated that a U.S. infrastructure bank would enhance the infrastructure sector’s performance and channel private funding to infrastructure. “To the extent that an infrastructure bank contributes to more competitiveness, more connectedness, faster goods movements, and more efficient movement of people . . . I think it would be a benefit to the real estate industry, and to the [broader] economy,” she said.

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