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Urban Land
July 2008

Feature Article

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In This Issue
  • Advanced Sustainable Master Plan Proposed for London’s Battersea Power Station
    A redevelopment of the historic Battersea Power Station site, located along the Thames in London, is planned as a major element of the most advanced sustainable development built in the U.K. to date. The master plan by Rafael Viñoly Architects PC and Real Estate Opportunities Ltd. (REO) for the new 8 million-square-foot (743,000-sq-m) project includes residential, retail, hotel, and office space, as well as leisure, cultural, and community facilities on what is the largest development site in central London.
  • Affordable Housing Opportunities in a Down Real Estate Market
    A California developer recommends that companies interested in producing affordable housing take advantage of today’s lower land prices and more modest increases in labor and material costs.
  • BIDs Come to Britain
    In the first two-plus years since the inception of business improvement districts, more than 60 such districts have been voted in, 14 of which are in industrial areas.
  • Bridging the Generation Gap
    As seniors become more vocal in their wants and needs, the market has begun to respond.
  • Building Commons and Community
    Karl Linn believed in possibility. A global citizen ahead of his time, Linn decided early on in his beautifully textured career to create possibilities—for children, for the urban poor, for the isolated, for families. That is what his book, Building Commons and Community, is about.
  • Building for Biotech
    Biotech is getting buy-in from a host of private investors and public agencies that recognize the ability of biotechnology research to create healthier economies and healthier populations.
  • Charles A. Reich: Technology, History, and the Greening of America
    A popular philosophical manifesto of the 1960s sheds unexpected light on the psychology of the U.S. environmental movement.
  • China’s New Urbanity
    A sudden increase in urban density presents a unique moment for China to shape and build cities that are socially, culturally, and physically connected—and, in the process, define a more livable, sustainable future.
  • Company’s European Headquarters Renovated as Carbon-Neutral Workspace
    In May 2006, London mayor Ken Livingstone introduced legally binding targets calling for a 20 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions in the city by 2015, and a 60 percent reduction by 2050. The U.K. followed suit, mandating that the national government as well as local jurisdictions also cut emissions by 60 percent by 2050.
  • Demographic Shifts Shape Tomorrow’s Workforce
    Baby boomer retirements and changing demographics in the United States will reinforce recent trends that are altering the face of tomorrow’s workforce.
  • Forward Thinking through Reverse Logistics
    Reverse logistics, a term most people have probably never heard, is gaining currency as more companies use it to deal with the ever-expanding volume of waste.
  • Gadi Kaufmann: A Strategy for Success
    Gadi Kaufmann says his new book, Strategy for Real Estate Companies, written with his business partner, Charlie Hewlett, and published by ULI, is his most significant project and “a real labor of love.” The book, a guide to building companies that last, gaining competitive advantage, and anticipating and preparing for economic and market cycles, was written about his experience at RCLCO/Robert Charles Lesser & Co., where he says he “fell in love with the work, and never looked back.”
  • Going Vertical with Industrial Facilities
    Land use planners and municipalities must rethink zoning laws that push this asset type to exurbia, thereby creating traffic congestion, distribution inefficiencies, and a higher environmental impact.
  • Green Retrofits
    Investors, developers, and corporations own trillions of dollars of commercial real estate worldwide that is rapidly being made obsolete by the powerful market and regulatory forces converging to drive the green real estate trend.
  • Health Care Reaches Out
    Ten health care facilities employ creative land use strategies to integrate medical care and wellness services into their communities.
  • Immigration’s Impact on Multifamily Housing
    Approximately 1 million immigrants—most without the assets or knowledge to buy a home—are expected to arrive each year in the United States, thereby increasing the demand for rental housing in this country.
  • London–New York Dialogues
    Representatives from leading financial sector firms with headquarter facilities in both New York City and London met recently to discuss factors that drive their locational decisions.
  • Making Places in Corporate America
    Not often do complex themes of architecture and urban design emerge from the world of commercially driven office development, but four large-scale projects illustrate these attributes.
  • Managing Risk in a Cyclical Business
    Building a strong risk management practice and integrating it throughout a business can help businesses survive and thrive in the long term.
  • Med Trends
    The market for medical office buildings has the potential to continue expanding, especially as the baby boom generation enters the over-65 age demographic and seeks a wider range of health care services.
  • Message from Financial Times/ULI Sustainable Cities Conference: Work on Existing Buildings
    Someone not immersed in the real estate business—a tenant for instance—could be forgiven for thinking that the built environment is well on its way to a carbon-neutral future, having heard recent rhetoric about the new wave of measures designed to create buildings that are sustainable in terms of energy consumption.
  • New Mixed-Use Tower Rising in Hanoi
    The Landmark, a 65-story, 843-foot- (257-m-) tall mixed-use building in Hanoi, Vietnam, designed to attract international companies to the country’s growing economy, will include residential units, offices, and retail space. Designed using principles of sustainability, the tower will maximize energy efficiency in response to the city’s intense year-round climate. Six-story-tall stacked skygardens will provide an urban retreat with views of the capital city and the river Hong Ha. The project, currently under construction, is expected to be completed in 2010.
  • New Open-Concept, Green Architectural Office Acts as Living Lab
    The most distinctive element of the north Texas offices of SHW Group, an educational architecture and design firm, is its openness. The facility, located in Legacy Town Center in Plano, Texas, is as long as a football field, and employees can see from one end to the other because there are no internal walls and the workstations have no obstructions to block views.
  • Nine Global Winners Chosen for 2008 Financial Times/ULI Sustainable Cities Awards
    Nine programs from organizations around the world representing both the public and private sectors have been selected as winners in the first annual Sustainable Cities Awards program, sponsored jointly by the Financial Times and ULI. The Sustainable Cities Awards honor global examples of ongoing programs that exhibit new ideas and perspectives for best practices in sustainable land use. Each of the winners incorporates initiatives that are making a significant contribution in highlighting the concept of sustainability in real estate. The nine winners were selected from among 18 finalists chosen from a field of 86 entries submitted from 15 countries.
  • Nuclear Power: Asset or Liability?
    It is important to examine how electricity is generated, not just how it is used.
  • Nurturing Tomorrow’s Economies
    Cities in California’s San Joaquin Valley get creative to lure businesses and diversify their economies.
  • Paradox: Unregulated Rural Development
    Unregulated rural development in the American West has resulted in a haphazard land use pattern, fragmenting open spaces and creating infrastructure and environmental problems.
  • Pedal Power: The Quiet Rise of the Bicycle in American Public Life
    Beginning with the invention of the velocipede in 1839, the bicycle has consistently served its public as a pleasurable and efficient means of two-wheeled, human-powered locomotion and as an artifact of intrinsic beauty. But in the span of the past few generations its iconic glow faded at the altar of America’s love affair with four wheels.
  • Penciling Out Sustainability
    What is lacking is a means to differentiate buildings on a scale measuring sustainability. The assessment of building performance is flawed, the impact of infrastructure is virtually ignored, and, perhaps because of this, value does not seem to figure in the equation.
  • P.F.1 (Public Farm One) Opens at P.S.1
    An urban farm concept that evokes the look of a flying carpet landing in the large entrance courtyard of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Brooklyn, New York, opened last month as part of the ninth annual Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and P.S.1’s Young Architects Program, which provides emerging architecture talent the chance to prepare and present architectural solutions for a specific site.
  • Portland’s Green Cluster
    Portland, Oregon, continues to promote sustainability with incentives, new energy-efficiency goals, and continued institutional support.
  • Public Markets
    From the hustle of shoppers to the patchwork of fruit and vegetables on display to the aromas emanating from all around, few settings stoke the senses like a public market. Public Markets, part of a series titled Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture, Design, and Engineering from the Library of Congress, documents a vast range of public markets, with photographs and maps from the library’s extensive collection.
  • Rail-to-Air
    An intermodal facility in Rhode Island could transform a region and become a national model.
  • Reducing Our Food Footprint
    In anticipation of the recent G-8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown argued in an interview with Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria that as a result of skyrocketing food and fuel prices, energy is becoming the next new problem worldwide. The G-8 countries, Brown said, need to coordinate their energy policies, show that demand will be moderated, and seriously explore alternative energy sources.
  • Rethinking Hospital Sites
    Throughout the United States, the disposition of state and federal land is a growing trend, creating significant opportunities for redevelopment and smart growth projects.
  • Rotterdam’s City Center Cubed
    A proposed innovative, cube-shaped building in the center of Rotterdam, Netherlands, will incorporate a number of uses and a system of voids to provide new connectivity among the streets of the city’s retail core, known as the Coolsingel. Though predominantly involving new construction, the 1.3 million-square-foot (120,000-sq-m) city center project will also include the historic ABN AMRO building, dating from the 1940s, which will be in the site’s courtyard/open space.
  • Sustainable Cities Are in the Future
    ULI and the Financial Times jointly sponsored a Sustainable Cities Awards program, an event that served as a capstone for a conference on sustainability held this past June in London. The conference highlighted the current issue that is featured on every business and government agenda and that increasingly is playing an important role in end-user decisions.
  • The Green Quotient: Q&A with Don Horn
    Architect Don Horn, a LEED-accredited professional, is director of sustainable design in the GSA’s Office of Applied Science. He ensures that sustainable design principles are part of GSA standards for all new construction, renovation, repair, leasing, and facility operations.
  • The Housing Correction and Affordable Rentals
    Given the stress in the capital markets, Fannie Mae is taking steps to stabilize the multifamily market by providing liquidity and capital and increasing its participation in key segments.
  • The Manhattanization of London?
    Mayor Boris Johnson’s decision to review London’s policy on tall buildings presents an opportunity to create a clear and positive platform for the city’s future development.
  • The Promise of Privatization: Lessons from Military Housing
    Privatization of military housing has saved money and time, spurred important innovations, and added substantial value to U.S. Army posts. Through the Residential Communities Initiative (RCI), the Army is privatizing nearly all family housing on its posts. Mahlon (Sandy) Apgar IV, who led the design and launch of RCI, talks about its successes, failures, and futures.
  • The State of Downtown Office Markets
    Reasons vary as to why downtown office markets in the United States have not performed as well as residential markets in capturing a larger share of metropolitan growth.
  • The Vertical Farm
    An alternate method of food production has been proposed—growing large amounts of produce within the confines of high-rise buildings.
  • There Goes the Skyline
    The issue of tall buildings in historic settings is not a small one. While very tall buildings have a place, that place is not every place.
  • ULI Launches Virtual ULI and Adopts New Brand Identity
    Virtual ULI—a new online tool created to give ULI members both better and more easily accessible interaction with the institute and with fellow members—was launched this month. Through Virtual ULI, the institute is revamping its Web presence and introducing streamlined services to enable members to take advantage of ULI’s numerous resources and programs. This will also better equip ULI in offering its online educational workshops and other Webinar programs, as well as enhance its exchange of best practices and improve the availability of industry research.
  • University of Southeast Asia Planned for a New Town in Vietnam
    Vietnam’s educational system has undergone a series of reforms in recent years as the country prepares its workforce for 21st-century global opportunities and demands. With a highly literate population, a median age of 29 years, an emerging middle class, and varied physical resources, Vietnam is expected to attain increasing affluence and global influence. It is rapidly becoming a major player in the world economy, as demonstrated most recently by its acceptance into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007 and its presence on the United Nations Security Council this year.
  • Urban Delta Planned for Thu Thiem Area of Ho Chi Minh City
    Evolving from a small fishing village to a regional port city to a modern metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City has long been a major center of human habitation. Founded on the banks of the Saigon River more than 300 years ago, the city today includes public boulevards, narrow tree-lined streets, green public spaces, a diverse array of historic architecture, and throngs of Vietnamese in perpetual motion on rickshaws, in automobiles, and on motorbikes.
  • Urban Land Cover July 2008
  • Urban Land Table of Contents July 2008
  • Value at Risk Analysis
    By analyzing portfolio performance under a wide variety of future conditions, the value at risk model can determine which conditions will result in losses, the magnitude of those losses, and the probability of those losses actually occurring.
  • Vietnam Rising
    Can Vietnam achieve its rapid development goals without suffering the same consequences as witnessed in China—particularly urban-rural income disparity and environmental meltdown?
  • Well Traveled
    As the wellness tourism trend gains momentum in Europe, resorts are being built to offer traditional medical spa treatment in a resort setting.
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