That’s a wrap! Last week concluded a wonderful Spring semester, as we successfully executed our UrbanPlan program led by Professor Daniel Wright in the UNC Charlotte Undergraduate programs. UrbanPlan is a challenging team building exercise that aims to develop land use professionals and moves students from a theoretical understanding to understanding the practical realities and demands of the process. It is a 12–15-hour unit where students address challenging financial, market, social, political, and design issues, develop a pro forma, and create a three-dimensional model of their plan.

The students begin the module by being assigned a “Role” – Financial Analyst, Marketing Director, Site Planner, City Liaison and Neighborhood Liaison. They engaged in multiple group sessions as well as two interactive facilitation sessions with ULI Charlotte members. During the facilitations, the member volunteers challenged the students to think more critically about the UrbanPlan issues and the specific responsibilities of their assigned roles. At the end, the teams presented their proposal to a “City Council” of ULI members that awards the development contract to the winning team.

As UrbanPlan volunteer, Zia Muso “UrbanPlan exercise provides a unique experience for the participants in thinking deeper about the complexities of making a real estate development project come to life. It was rewarding to participate and engage with UNC Charlotte’s asset/property management class. To engage with the question on the board, and think about solutions, discuss it, plan for it, and rationalize the proposal holistically with consideration to many stakeholders involved is at the core of this exercise. As a lifelong learner I am always thankful in engaging the built environment community in such ways.”

In addition, student Melissa Bustamante said this, “What a great experience it has been in developing our own “fictional” community as a team. I have a much better understanding of how complex the nature of land use decisions can be and how important it is to take absolutely everything into consideration in order to develop a successful community. Extremely grateful for this opportunity and all the knowledge I’ve been able to gain.”

Visit ULI Charlotte’s Instagram and LinkedIn for pictures from this semester’s classes!

Thank you to Professor Daniel Wright and to all the member volunteers (see list below) who participated!

• Alexander Buck, B+B Architecture
• Jeff Cernuto, Princeton Communities
• Alyson Craig, City of Charlotte Planning Department
• Kris Fetter, Faison
• Michael Gribble, Fairfield
• Tobe Holmes, University City Partners
• Ed McKinney, Charlotte Department of Transportation
• Abbey Mullet, BB+M Architecture
• Zia Musa, The Beck Group
• Christopher Perri, CBRE
• John Porter, Charter Properties, Inc.
• Stuart Proffitt, Proffitt Dixon Partners
• Ken Szymenski

Learn more about UrbanPlan here. Interested in getting involved? Contact Ariel DiDonato at [email protected].