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ULI | Charles H. Shaw Forum on Urban Community Issues        

Overview Former ULI Chairman, ULI Chicago Trustee, Chairman of The Shaw Company, and developer of Homan Square, Charles (“Charlie”) H. Shaw (1933-2006) was instrumental in moving forward several key areas of ULI’s program of work, including advancing the revitalization of urban neighborhoods and global expansion efforts.  In 2001, Charlie endowed the ULI/Charles H. Shaw Forum on Urban Community Issues, an annual forum that brings together around 25 experts and leading practitioners to address a specific topic relating to the challenges and opportunities of urban neighborhoods. The first forum, held in the fall of 2001, focused on the role played by schools, recreational centers and other public facilities in providing a foundation for community building. Subsequent Shaw Forums have covered such topics as capitalizing on the new markets tax credit; involving the community in neighborhood planning; making parks accessible to the community; community development corporations partnering with for-profit developers; managing gentrification; and green affordable housing.

2007 Shaw Forum - Environmentally Sustainable Affordable Housing

The topic of the 2007 ULI/Charles H. Shaw Forum on Urban Community Issues was “Environmentally Sustainable Affordable Housing.” The forum, convened in Washington, DC, and chaired by ULI Senior Resident Fellow for Housing, John McIlwain, brought together a diverse group of 25 experts and land use professionals from the public, private and not for profit sectors to practitioners to:

• Examine the current state of the art of green affordable housing
• Identify next steps for making green affordable housing more widely available
• Asses what the future may be for green standards for affordable housing
• Identify how ULI can best further green affordable housing in its future program of work

The first day of the forum, participants toured Galen Terrace, a Green Communities rehab of an existing Section 8 housing community made up of three apartment buildings on two separate parcels in the Anacostia neighborhood of South East Washington, D.C.  The Galen Terrace Tenant Association partnered with Somerset Development Company and the National Housing Trust-Enterprise Preservation Corporation (NHT-E) to acquire and renovate the property and to preserve the affordability of Galen Terrace.

During the second day of the forum, Dana Bourland, the Senior Director of Green Communities for Enterprise Community Partners, delivered a keynote address (ppt) , which was followed by three  case studies presentations: 

• High Point, Seattle, WA – Bill Kreager, Mithun & Tom Phillips, Seattle Housing Authority
• SOLARA, San Diego, CA – Mary Jane Jagodzinski, Community Housing Works
• David and Joyce Dinkins Gardens, NYC – Paul Freitag, Jonathan Rose Companies

Publications

ULI is influential in the discussion of and debate on important national land use policy issues. To encourage and enrich that dialogue, the Institute holds forums that bring together prominent experts to discuss topics of interest to the land use, real estate and urban communities. The findings of these forums can guide and enhance ULI’s program of work. They can also provide ULI district councils, ULI members, and others addressing land use issues with information that they can use to improve quality of life, advance community values, and—in the words of the ULI mission statement—“provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide.”

Following the first few Shaw Forums, ULI published Land Use Policy Forum Reports.  Since 2004, Shaw Forums have resulted in the publication of ULI Community Catalyst Reports, which are intended to make the findings and recommendations of the forums relevant and accessible to practitioners at the community level, where land use decisions are made and their consequences most directly felt. 

• Sustaining Urban Mixed-Income Communities: The Role of Community Facilities (2001)
• Community Development Corporations Working with For-Profit Developers (2002)
• Capitalizing on the New Markets Tax Credit (2003)
• Involving the Community in Neighborhood Planning (2004)
• Parks, People, and Places: Making Parks Accessible to the Community (2005)
• Managing Gentrification (2006)
• Environmentally Sustainable Green Housing (2007) *coming soon*

Community Catalyst Reports can be downloaded free of charge from ULI’s Web site (www.uli.org/policypapers) or ordered in bulk at a nominal cost from ULI’s bookstore (800-321-5011).