The UrbanPlan team is happy to report that we wrapped up another successful UrbanPlan High School Student Competition in May!

The winning teams are:

• 1st place: Highland Parkitects from Highland Park High School in Dallas, TX (ULI Dallas – Fort Worth).
• 2nd place (Tie): Concrete Visionaries from Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn, NY (ULI NY) & Phoenix Development from Bloor Collegiate Institute in Toronto, ON (ULI Toronto).
• 3rd place: TMC Estates from Marvin E. Robinson School of Business and Management at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center in Dallas, TX (ULI Dallas – Fort Worth).

UrbanPlan is a hands-on simulation used to empower participants to shape the future of their built environment by more fully understanding the complex dynamics of urban development and the market and nonmarket forces that shape it. Established 21 years ago in collaboration with the Fisher Center of Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, UrbanPlan was piloted in the Bay Area as a curriculum for high school and university students. The program now includes a variety of formats, including workshops for public officials and community members, and hosts programs throughout the United States and Canada, Europe, Asia and the United Kingdom.

Working in development teams, UrbanPlan participants respond to a request for proposals (RFP) from the fictional city of Yorktown by creating a redevelopment plan for the disinvested Elmwood District. Along the way, the teams wrestle with a variety of challenges, including how to attract investors and manage risk; reconcile competing community demands; and achieve city revenue, job creation, housing and environmental goals. The teams also meet with ULI member volunteers who are local commercial real estate and land use professionals trained in UrbanPlan and the Socratic Method. The volunteers provide feedback to the teams as they develop their plans and serve on a mock city council to receive the teams’ presentations of their final proposals and select a winning plan.

Mike Zane of Kalani High School in Honolulu, Hawaii has taught UrbanPlan for 20 years. “UrbanPlan provides an unparalleled opportunity for students to understand the complexities of urban development and the importance of community engagement,” says Zane. Over the years, he has witnessed the transformative impact of UrbanPlan on his students, noting, “Seeing my students present their ideas with such confidence and creativity is incredibly rewarding. It’s a testament to the power of hands-on learning.”

Another 20-year veteran teacher of UrbanPlan, Steven Bekemeyer of Roseville Area High School in Roseville, Minnesota, says “[UrbanPlan] allows students to experience so many different facets of the built environment … we’re producing kids who understand the why behind how their community came to be.” Many young people over the years have chosen to pursue careers in the commercial real estate and land use industry after participating in UrbanPlan, and a number of them now volunteer for the program. Two such alumni are former students of Bekemeyer’s. “It’s fantastic,” says Bekemeyer. “They would both tell you they were influenced careerwise from what they learned in UrbanPlan and they are now ULI members, participating and giving back to UrbanPlan.”

But the positive impact is not just on students. According to volunteer Jon Wallenstrom, co-owner of Alaka’i Development, “[t]he ability to be with smart young people who are learning so fast and so much is a real privilege. That’s the way I think everybody feels that does it. I just feel better about where our world is headed when I’m in a room with a bunch of smart young people … doing interesting things and asking good questions and bringing insight that I might not have myself.”

Brooks Powell, senior associate at DLR Group and a long-time UrbanPlan volunteer, agrees. “UrbanPlan is one of the greatest opportunities in the world… seeing these students present with such authority and creativity is incredibly rewarding.”

UrbanPlan High School Student Competition

One of UrbanPlan’s flagship events is the annual Americas Student Competition (ASC), a one-day event open to teams of five to six students from any high school with an active UrbanPlan program. Now in its sixth year, to date the ASC has hosted 234 students from 20 schools across the United States and Canada and awarded nearly $60,000 in prize money.

As in the regular UrbanPlan curriculum, competitors must balance financial constraints, competing neighborhood priorities, historic preservation, and concerns about social, economic, and climate resilience. However, the ASC requires teams to address additional challenges in response to current events, such as mitigating the impact of declining office occupancy, increasing public open space, and providing affordable/attainable housing.

Each year’s unique challenge is not announced until the day of the competition, and the teams race against the clock to build a responsive plan to present to the city council that afternoon. As Brooks Powell notes, “We are really challenging them in a very short period of time to take on a revolutionary view of the exercise… we are asking them to think more creatively about their design solutions, their financial solutions, and their overall approach to the built environment… [t]hey’re able to very quickly understand the twist and apply it to their projects.” Jackie Manduley, a long time UrbanPlan teacher at Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn, New York, has sponsored a team in every year of the competition. “I won’t miss it,” says Manduley. “I’m telling you, they learn so much from it.” Manduley noted that students opt to take her course as an elective just to participate in UrbanPlan and have a shot at the competition.

According to Jon Wallenstrom, the competition reveals some interesting nuances. “Everybody’s reading the same book, but the teams bring their own regional knowledge, background, understanding, and maybe even teaching methods to the competition, which makes it slightly different, and is neat to see.”

The students find the differences interesting too. Mike Zane notes that part of what draws his students to the ASC is “just to see what it looks like across the network, how the teams line up against one another.” As a teacher, he says “[i]t’s fun to watch the progression from what they did in the classroom … to the national competition.”

To learn more about UrbanPlan and the ASC, including how to bring UrbanPlan to your community, visit urbanplan.uli.org.

How to Get Involved in UrbanPlan

UrbanPlan is seeking passionate individuals to expand its impact:

Become a Volunteer Professionals with at least five years’ experience in commercial real estate or urban land use are encouraged to join. Training is available via digital on-demand modules or through in-person sessions hosted by local ULI district councils. Volunteering offers opportunities to:

• Inspire young minds to shape their communities.
• Showcase diverse career paths within real estate and land use industries.
• Build connections with other professionals in the field.

Interested? Submit your Volunteer Interest Application or email [email protected].

Recruit School Champions Help recruit schools to integrate UrbanPlan’s dynamic curriculum and encourage participation in the competition. Bridging the gap between classroom learning and real-world projects is a crucial step in empowering students.

Together, we can help the next generation reimagine and design the cities of tomorrow.