Image courtesy of Dr. Robert Bullard and the Bullard Center for Environmental Justice

WASHINGTON (September 24, 2024) – The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has selected Dr. Robert Bullard as the recipient of the 2024 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, the most prestigious and respected honor in the global land use and development community.

Now in its 25th year, the $100,000 ULI Prize recognizes an individual who has made a distinguished contribution to community building globally, who has established visionary standards of excellence in the land use and development field, and whose commitment to creating the highest-quality built environment has led to the betterment of society.

“This year, we are thrilled to recognize Dr. Bullard for his cutting-edge academic research and tireless advocacy for environmental and climate justice,” said ULI Prize jury chair Amy Price, President, BGO. “His expertise as a researcher and policy analyst has earned him an influential voice within the halls of the U.S. Congress and a strong presence on the global stage, including as a keynote speaker at the United Nations Summit.  Given how well his work aligns with the mission of ULI, we are honored to help expand his influence and passion to ULI and the broader real estate community.”

Dr. Bullard, who began his career as a sociologist, became known as the “Father of Environmental Justice.”  His groundbreaking 1979 study in support of Bean v. Southwestern Waste Management Corps, the first lawsuit to challenge environmental racism in the United States, discovered that 82 percent of Houston’s landfills were located in Black communities while Blacks only made up 25 percent of the city’s population.

For four decades, Dr. Bullard has been working on behalf of communities of color who have been victimized by environmental racism. In that time, he has authored 18 books, the first of which, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality, spotlights the economic, social, and psychological consequences induced by the siting of noxious facilities in the African American community and is regarded as the first to fully articulate the concept of environmental justice.

“As the foremost leading figure of environmental justice, Dr. Bullard has highlighted the realities of increased exposure to pollution and vulnerability to climate crises communities of color face around the country and the world,” said Mary Beth Corrigan, Americas CEO, ULI. “By honoring Dr. Bullard, ULI invites him to engage with the real estate industry—to share his insights, foster collaboration, and advance environmental justice. ULI is known for being focused on innovative solutions, and I look forward to the best practices that will emerge in the built environment to set communities up to thrive for generations to come.”

“I started this work through the lens of sociology, and I soon realized the science-backed data was what we needed to prove this was all even real,” said Dr. Bullard. “It was a fight against systemic denial at first, but the data made it clear that the communities lacking funding for infrastructure, education, and clean water were the very same communities being exposed to environmental toxins from the placement of landfills and other ‘locally unwanted land uses.’ Once you start to connect the dots you can turn research into action.

His research has been used to fight for climate justice around the world and he has been recognized with numerous awards, most recently the TIME Earth Award and the United Nations Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award. He co-chaired the National Black Environmental Network (NBEJN), ensuring environmental concerns were addressed within communities of color, and in 2021 was appointed to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. He is also a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.

He is the founding director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University where he is a professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy and continues to advocate for environmental justice and mentors future environmental advocates.

“I’m grateful to be recognized by ULI and have a chance to bring these important conversations to the right rooms of people. I look forward to sharing knowledge with those who want to learn more as well as getting involved with the many ULI members already on the ground doing this work,” continued Dr. Bullard.

This year, Dr. Bullard will be honored as the ULI Prize laureate and will be a featured speaker at the 2024 ULI Fall Meeting, which will be held in Las Vegas from October 28 to October 30. He will be speaking on October 29 at the concurrent session from 9:00 am – 10:00 am PDT.

The 2024 ULI Prize jury was chaired by Amy Price, President, BGO, San Francisco. In addition to Price, jury members included former Mayor Anthony Williams, CEO, Federal City Council of DC, Washington, D.C.; Lisa Switkin, Partner, Field Operations, New York, N.Y.; Michael Phillips, Chairman and President, Jamestown LP, New York, N.Y.; and Winka Dubbeldam, Founding Partner, Archi-Tectonics NYC LLC, Professor and former Chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, New York, N.Y.

Read Dr. Bullard’s full interview with Urban Land magazine here.

For more information, contact [email protected].

###

About the Urban Land Institute

The Urban Land Institute is a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has more than 48,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines. For more information on ULI, please visit uli.org, or follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About the ULI Prize

The ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development was established in 2000 through a gift by the Miller Nichols Charitable Foundation to the ULI Foundation. Recent laureates have included founding principal and partner of Studio Gang architect Jeanne Gang, New York urban planner Jonathan Rose, Mayor Anthony Williams, Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, Chicago artist and urban planner Theaster Gates, Boston transportation entrepreneur Robin Chase, and Singaporean architect and urban planner Dr. Cheong Koon Hean. For more information about the ULI Prize and how to nominate the next laureate, please visit uli.org/visionaries.