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Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority Selected as Winner of National ULI Housing Policy Award
The 2019 ULI Robert. C. Larson Housing Policy Leadership Award Celebrates Excellence in Innovation
ULI Philadelphia Students at the Fall Meeting
October 9, 2019
As part of the 2019 Etkin Johnson Student Scholarship, our 5 scholars got the opportunity to travel down to Washington, D.C. and attend the 2019 ULI Fall Meeting. Read what they had to say about their experiences!
Joel Amin, University of Delaware, Wilminvest
As an Etkin Johnson Scholar, I was privileged to attend one of the most prestigious real estate conferences in the country, Urban Land Institutes 2019 Fall Meeting hosted in Washington, D.C from September 18th-September 21st. The city currently has a variety of ongoing development, fitting for this year’s discussions which included topics such as opportunity zones, affordability, housing policy, real estate technology, and much more. To see such passionate industry leaders from all over the country was an experience I can truly never forget. I have leveraged this opportunity even further by following up with many new connections I’ve made at the conference, and utilizing their network for my personal social impact real estate investment company, Wilminvest.
Oji Bratcher, Thomas Jefferson University, East Falls
Being a winner of the Etkin Johnson Scholarship has given me the opportunity to attend this year’s ULI Fall Meeting. Located this year at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C., a thriving city going through a development transformation, which seemed fitting to host the event. Knowing the rich history of the city and spending time traveling through the streets, it is always a joy seeing buildings going up. Connecting the old with the new in real estate development is always a joy to witness.
Joe Buckshon, University of Pennsylvania, Fels Institute of Government
As a student of public administration, I was excited to see many sessions at ULI’s Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C. related to policy and how it impacts land use and development. During the one of the Thursday morning sessions, I sat in on an excellent panel in the subject area. You know you’re in a good room when some of your peers who are asking questions would be just as qualified to be on the panel themselves!
Bridget Labe, University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School
This year, I attended the ULI Fall meeting in Washington, D.C. as a student for the first time, thanks to the Philadelphia chapter’s generous Etkin Johnson program. Prior to graduate school, I spent the majority of my career working with a variety of breakthrough technologies, many of which stand a chance of disrupting business as usual for the real estate industry today. At this year’s Fall Meeting, I chose to attend concurrent sessions focused primarily on real estate technology and asset futureproofing, two topics essential to creating value in development in the short-term and quality of life in the long-term. The following is a summary of the trends and soundbites that stood out most to me over the course of the week.
Jesse Weiss, University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design
In September, I attended my first ULI meeting in Washington D.C. as part of the Etkin Johnson Scholarship. As I listened in on panel discussions at the conference, I took away three major ideas about housing affordability and real estate’s role in combating climate change.
Addressing the issue of affordable housing requires changes in opinion about neighborhoods among residents and ways of doing business among developers.
Cities are setting ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions and will need the real estate sector’s support to achieve these goals.
Carbon-free energy and affordable housing can go hand in hand.