WHAT’S NEXT? NEW URBAN LAND INSTITUTE REPORT EXPLORES HOW FUNDAMENTAL SOCIETAL CHANGE COULD DRAMATICALLY AFFECT URBAN LAND USE THROUGH THE END OF THE DECADE

LOS ANGELES (October 26, 2011) – A new economy is unfolding over the course of this decade, driven by an extraordinary convergence of demographic, financial, technological and environmental trends. Taken together, these trends will dramatically change urban planning, design and development through 2020, according to a new report from the Urban Land Institute (ULI).

What’s Next? Real Estate in the New Economy outlines how every aspect of living, working and connecting will change in major ways, driven in large part by the values, preferences and work ethic of Generation Y, the largest generation in American history. The report was released today by ULI at its Annual Fall Meeting and Urban Land Expo in Los Angeles.

“Land development is, by nature, a forward-looking enterprise. If we are to be successful, the communities we shape now will have to serve the needs of those who follow after us,” said ULI Chairman Peter S. Rummell, principal of the Rummell Company in Jacksonville, Fla. “Together, these changes are of a magnitude that could transform our society over the course of this decade, and we need to understand them if we want our cities to prosper in this hyper-connected age of globalization.”