The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a global nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI aims to help its members and their partners build more equitable, sustainable, healthy and resilient communities. ULI was founded in 1936 and currently has more than 48,000 members. About 28 percent of ULI members are real estate developers, 10 percent are service providers such as architects and consultants, 10 percent are from the public sector, 13 percent represent sources of capital such as investors. ULI focuses on best practices in real estate development, housing, transportation, and related topics. The Institute provides technical assistance in communities via advisory panels, hosts conferences, produces reports, collects and shares industry benchmarks and guidance, and offers learning opportunities and courses. ULI currently has 52 District Councils or local chapters in the Americas, as well as 7 National councils in Europe and Asia. The Institute’s Product Councils are groups of senior industry leaders. District and Product Councils that facilitate learning and sharing. The Institute is governed by a Global Board of Directors, made up of member volunteers. The board is currently headed by Global Chair Franz Colloredo-Mansfeld, chairman and CEO of Cabot Properties, appointed in July 2025 to succeed Diane Hoskins. The organization is led by Global CEO Angela Cain. Prior to Cain, the position was held by Ron Pressman, and by W. Edward Walter prior to that.
History
1936–1949 ULI was founded during the Great Depression on December 14, 1936 as the National Real Estate Foundation for Practical Research and Education, with the intention of becoming a research and education college in real estate and "urbiculture." In 1939 the organization changed its name to the Urban Land Institute, two years after establishing its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. ULI held its first conference in 1941, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. A year later, ULI established itself as an advocacy organization with the publication of "Outline for a Legislative Program to Rebuild Our Cities." That same year, the institute relocated its headquarters to Washington, DC. In 1944, ULI's first Product Council, the Community Builder's Council, was organized focusing on suburban building issues facing post-World War II American cities. The institute's Advisory Services program was established in 1947, conducting its first panel for the city of Louisville, Kentucky.
1950–1979 The 1950s marked the establishment of the J.C. Nichols Foundation (which later evolved into the ULI Foundation) as well as the Institute's first shopping center costs study. ULI continued to move towards becoming a more research-focused institution during the 1960s, establishing its first research program in 1960. The Institute would conduct a number of multiyear comparative land use studies and begin spreading their influence abroad by holding its first international meeting for sustaining members in Mexico City in 1965. In 1965, ULI held its first international meeting for sustaining members in Mexico City. Two years later, in 1967, the Community Builder's Council hosted ULI's first European study tour. In 1970, the Urban Land Research Foundation (later called the ULI Foundation) was created to "help meet the rising need for an expanding more accessible body of development information." In 1979, ULI established the ULI Awards for Excellence program.
1980–1999 ULI created its regional District Council program in 1983, starting with seven councils in various U.S. cities. UrbanPlan, the Institute's second high school program, was created with the help of a grant award from the National Geographic Society Education Foundation. In 1992, the Institute created its first two European National Councils for the cities of London and Barcelona. The ULI Senior Resident Fellows program was established in 1996. That same year, the first ULI Mayor's Forum was held with the intention of creating a venue for city officials and the private sector to meet and seek solutions to urban problems.
2000–present In 2000, the ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development was established and the number of ULI District Councils grew to 39, expanding to Europe, Asia, and South America as National Councils. A year later, in 2001, ULI opened its first European office in Brussels, Belgium. That same year, the first Young Leaders group was established by the ULI Houston District Council. A majority of the other District Councils have a Young Leaders group by 2005, and ULI opened its first Canadian District Council in Toronto, Ontario that same year. The European office relocated to London and founded the Community Action Grant program in 2004. In 2007, the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing was created in addition to the opening of a ULI office in Hong Kong. By 2008, ULI membership would exceed 40,000. That same year, ULI created the ULI Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use along with the launch of the Urban Investment Network in Europe. In 2011, the National Building Museum announced ULI as the 2012 Honor Award recipient for its years of dedication to leadership in urban planning and developing sustainable communities. In 2012, ULI absorbed the Greenprint Foundation (now known as ULI Greenprint), a global alliance of real estate owners and developers which uses benchmarking and knowledge sharing to help the industry cost-effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In 2014, ULI and the National League of Cities entered a partnership to jointly guide the direction and operations of the Rose Center for Public Leadership, helping expand its work and influence to a wider audience of city officials. The partnership ended in 2019. In 2015, ULI established the Building Healthy Places program, which focuses on intersections between health, social and racial equity and the built environment.
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