Urban Land

Institute

Educating Tomorrow’s
Voters, Neighbors,
Community Leaders,
and Land Use
Professionals

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The United States will add 60 million peo-
ple in the next 20 years. As our population
grows, Americans across the country are
called on to make increasingly difficult land
use decisions. Where and how will we, our
children, and future generations live, work,
shop, play, and travel from place to place?
How we choose to answer questions like
these will determine how we accommodate
growth without squandering valuable natu-
ral resources, sacrificing the livability of
our neighborhoods, or violating our sense
of community. Yet, nothing in our educa-
tion arms us with the language and skills
to become effective problem-solving par-
ticipants in this decision-making process,
which is so critical to our quality of life and
the vitality of our democracy.
If we are to address effectively the chal-
lenge of our growing population, if we are to
improve our communities as they grow, we
must elevate the level of discourse and
improve the decision-making capacity of all
citizens. UrbanPlan, ULI’s land use planning
and real estate development program, strives
to change the land use decision-making
process by providing high school juniors
and seniors with the understanding, insights,
and language to become engaged and
informed problem solvers.

T H E M I S S I O N
“Our goal is to create a more sophisticated level of discourse among local
stakeholders involved in land use decisions. The education of tomorrow’s
voters, neighbors, community leaders, public officials, and land use profes-
sionals is mission critical for ULI.”—Ron Nahas, Partner, Rafanelli and Nahas, and
chairman of ULI’s UrbanPlan task force
What Is UrbanPlan? The Outcome
UrbanPlan is a realistic, engaging, and aca- Students who complete UrbanPlan under-
demically challenging classroom-based, stand three fundamental principles:
Web-supported program in which students ■ The built environment does not happen
learn the roles, issues, trade-offs, and eco- by accident or by mandate.
■ Good development must accommodate
nomics involved in urban development. It
market realities as well as public needs
provides our future voters, neighbors,
and desires.
community leaders, public officials, and ■ Our actions as citizens and consumers
land use professionals with a hands-on influence what is built, when it’s built, and
experience in developing realistic land use where it’s built.
solutions to vexing urban growth challenges. Students often express this understand-
ing with a degree of sophistication that
stuns the professionals:
“The increased density of our plan gives
us the fiscal leeway to provide more
affordable housing and public amenities
for the residents of the Elmwood neigh-
borhood.”—Adam Capesi, 17, Berkeley High School
Who Created UrbanPlan?
UrbanPlan is based on a program originally
created by the Urban Land Institute and
implemented by ULI District Councils in
Los Angeles, Orange County, and San
Francisco, California; and in Orlando,
Florida. The current version was devel-
oped at the Fisher Center for Real Estate
and Urban Economics at the University of
California, Berkeley, in collaboration with
ULI and a team of high school economics
and government teachers. This collabora-
tion ensured the reality of the land use
problem as well as the academic credibility
and standards-based content demanded
by educators.
The UrbanPlan curriculum is compatible
with all state and national content stan-
dards for high school economics and pro-
vides a much-needed local government
component to the government curriculum.
It employs the best practices of problem
and project-based learning (PBL) required
in schools across the U.S.

Teams use color-coded LEGO pieces to create the
“massing plans” for their development proposals.
How Does UrbanPlan Work in the
Classroom?
Student development teams respond to a
“Request for Proposal” for the redevelop-
ment of a blighted neighborhood in a
hypothetical community. Each team mem-
ber assumes one of five roles: finance
director, marketing director, city liaison,
neighborhood liaison, and site planner.
Through these roles, students develop a
real-life understanding of the various
stakeholders in the development process
and the challenge of reconciling the stake-
holders’ often competing agendas to cre-
ate a well-designed, sustainable project.
Teams address challenging financial,
social, political, and design issues, devel-
op a pro forma and three-dimensional
model of their plan, and present their pro-
Where and How Has UrbanPlan
Been Tested?
UrbanPlan was rigorously field tested for two
years with over 700 high school juniors and
seniors by teachers in core curriculum eco-
nomics and government courses in five tra-
ditional California public high schools—both
urban and suburban. Refinements based on
feedback from the students, teachers, and
land use professionals involved produced a
program that is highly engaging and
rewarding for all participants.
Students in Arlington, Virginia, Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles,
New York, Orange County, California, Orlando, and San
Francisco participated in UrbanPlan programs in 2004.
Using electronic spreadsheets, students input team develop-
ment decisions and calculate tax revenues, job creation, and
developer profitability.
posal to a “City Council” of ULI members
that awards the development contract to
the winning team.
Over the course of the three-week proj-
ect and prior to the presentations, local
land use professionals, who have attended
UrbanPlan volunteer training, interact sev-
eral times with the student teams.
As “facilitators,” they challenge the
students to think more critically about
the UrbanPlan issues and the specific
responsibilities of their “job” (Finance,
Marketing, Site Planner, City Liaison,
Neighborhood Liaison).
As “presenters,” they relate their own
local projects to the issues and decisions
the students are struggling with in
UrbanPlan.
Teams of students present plans to a “city council”
jury of ULI members.
The “facilitator,” ULI member Fred Kober. Student Kelly
Walsh said, “He made us really question what we were
doing and why. We realized that everything matters.
You can’t just throw things here or there.”
Measures of Success
How do we know that UrbanPlan works?
■ All teachers and schools that have
piloted UrbanPlan have continued and
expanded their program.
■ Postive evidence from every community
that has adopted the program includes:
• informed parents, students, and
teachers;
• positive media coverage of participat-
ing schools and ULI;
• an energized District Council; and
• a new population of land use profession-
als introduced to ULI and its mission.
■ Eighteen ULI District Councils are
organizing to implement UrbanPlan in
their communities.
■ U.C. Berkeley, U.T. Austin, and DePaul
University graduate and undergraduate pro-
grams in architecture and real estate use
UrbanPlan in their own architecture,
finance, and real estate courses.
Success Depends on You The Impact
Working with UP is one of the most rewarding What do participants in the program have to say?
experiences for ULI members at the local
level. This powerful and respected program “If every citizen in the city of San Rafael did the UrbanPlan program that
our high school students just completed, I would be one happy redevel-
gives members from every professional disci-
opment director.”—Nancy Mackle, Redevelopment Director, San Rafael, California
pline the opportunity to give back to their
community at a level of involvment to which
they can realistically commit.
■ Leadership opportunites for those who can
devote the time and perseverence to organize
local efforts.
■ Classroom volunteer: facilitator, presenter,
or “city council” juror—all essential roles
requiring as little as 2 hours per semester.

ULI Orlando launched the new UrbanPlan teaching unit in local schools in 2004.

“UrbanPlan is extraordinary. It responds to our need for academically

challenging programs that demand critical thinking about real-world
problems. . . in which students must come to well-researched posi-
tions on the issues, engage in civil and informed discourse about
these issues, and understand that all positions can have real-world
consequences.”—Doug Powers, High School Economics Teacher

“These students are better prepared to dispassionately evaluate the chal-

lenges, trade-offs, costs, and benefits of development in their communities
than any adult who hasn’t actually been a member of a development
team.”—Doug Abbey, Chairman, AMB Capital Partners

“UrbanPlan distills and transmits the essence of the development

In Arlington, Virginia, 27 juniors and seniors at Washington-
Lee High School participated in UrbanPlan in May 2004.
process to young adults and adults alike more effectively, more
comprehensively, in less time, and with more lasting impact than
any other program suitable for a general audience.”—Steve Chamberlin,
President, Chamberlin Associates

As ULI members, we can clearly agree that

our public schools need support and that our
citizenry is ill informed about land use issues.
Here is a chance to do something about both.
Join our efforts to improve the decision-
making environments at the local level,
where the real land use decisions are made.
For more information about the program
and how to introduce it in your community,
contact Paula Blasier, UrbanPlan Director,
ULI. (pblasier@uli.org)

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ULI–the Urban Land Institute
Students at Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers competed in the ULI New
York competition in 2004.
1025 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W.
Suite 500 West
Washington, D.C. 20007
www.uli.org