2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land - 16

Editor's Desk
Urban Land Magazine Celebrates 82 Years of
ULI Member-Driven Thought Leadership
The Third issue of Urban Land was a news
bulletin dated January 12, 1942, a month after
the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Its
nameplate bore a slogan: " To Obtain Post-War
Replanning and Rebuilding of Cities. "
Fast-forward to 2024: Urban Land magazine's
cover focuses on " A Sense of Place " and
" rebuilding urban communities " in a postpandemic
era.
What has remained consistent over the publication's
82-year history, is that this publication is
a member-driven one, positioned with the highest
ideals to share inspirational thought leadership.
A journey through the archives at ULI HQ
in Washington, D.C., reveals a history of the
industry, its important leaders, and its groundbreaking
projects.
This issue of Urban Land-we hope-is no different.
Indeed,
a full third of the book is authored by
members. For example, featured projects include
Tishman Speyer's Morgan North (p. 76), a redevelopment
of a 1933 postal distribution center
in Manhattan that redefines " office park " with a
two-acre green rooftop park accessible to office
tenants. And then, more than a thousand miles
away, we have Kansas City's Rock Island Bridge
(p. 86), which was built in 1905 as a vital part
of the stockyard district's railroad infrastructure.
Local architecture firm Multistudio redesigned
it to become both a public trailway and a twolevel
entertainment venue.
In coming weeks and months, such memberauthored
features-and many others-will publish
again digitally in the Industry Voices section
featured on Urban Land Online (urbanland.uli.
org), where members also have an opportunity
to publish digital-first articles that are amplified
in the magazine's e-newsletter, This Week in
Urban Land, and by ULI's social media experts.
For print and online, dedicated ULI member
authors go through a rigorous editorial process
that includes editors, copy editors, a fact
16
URBAN LAND SUMMER 202 4
checker, and a graphic designer.
Humbly put, as part of a global nonprofit
with the mission to shape the future of the
built environment for transformative impact in
communities worldwide, Urban Land has an
embarrassment of riches when it comes to
subject-matter experts. Not only is the magazine
able to tap key industry leaders but we regularly
call upon the Institute's internal subject-matter
experts for feedback and commentary, and to
write articles featuring ULI's original research.
Case in point: Matt Norris, a senior director
with the ULI Building Healthy Places Initiative,
writes about new ULI research on how to make
multigenerational communities happen (p. 18).
And Marta Schantz, co-executive director of
the ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability
in Real Estate provides expert commentary in
my own contribution, a feature profile of One
Vanderbilt (p. 46), the fourth tallest building
in New York City. One Vanderbilt is unique on
many levels; for starters, it's open to the public
365 days a year via a below-ground, internal
connection to Grand Central Terminal.
In the story, I interview developer Robert
Schiffer, executive vice president of development
in the investments group at SL Green, Manhattan's
largest office landlord. Jamie von Klemperer,
president and design principal of Kohn
Pedersen Fox (KPF), the design firm behind
One Vanderbilt, is another key interview.
KPF is also behind a $1 million donation to
the ULI Foundation that will fund research
on low-carbon design and other activities at
the ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability
in Real Estate. The gift is in honor of KPF
cofounder A. Eugene Kohn, the first architect
to become a ULI Life Trustee. At the time of
the gift, Kohn said, " Throughout my professional
career, ULI's values have served as a
guiding principle. " UL
SIBLEY FLEMING is editor in chief of Urban Land.
Selfie of Urban Land
Editor in Chief Sibley
Fleming experiencing
SUMMIT One Vanderbilt
in New York City.
2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land
