READING LIST Moving Towards More Equitable Development JULY 2020 Equitable development is an approach for meeting There are clear initiatives, tangible examples, and the needs of underserved communities through award-winning projects which can help demonstrate policies and programs that reduce disparities while the approach as a means for rebuilding communities. fostering places that are healthy and vibrant. It is The outcomes of equitable development are the increasingly considered an effective placed-based result of clearly set expectations, collaborative action for creating strong and livable communities. problem solving, and persistent leadership. This approach is meant to counter-balance some Equitable development is driven by priorities and of the development philosophies of the past, values as well as clear expectations that the which–whether intentionally or unintentionally– outcomes from development need to be responsive served to segregate or further disadvantage various to underserved populations and vulnerable groups, communities rather than benefiting stakeholders in in addition to using innovative design strategies and an inclusive way. sustainable policies. URBAN LAND READING LIST: MOVING TOWARDS MORE EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT 1 CONTENTS 03 Promoting Inclusive Urban Growth in Three U.S. Cities Beyond “Best Efforts”: Why Commercial Real Estate 05 Needs to Catch Up on Diversity 13 Is There a Business Case for Diversity and Inclusion? How Four Developers Are Blending Social Equity and 18 Health Concerns into Future Projects 20 Funding ULI Diversity Initiatives in Four U.S. Regions Recruitment of Nontraditional Candidates Can Boost 22 Industry Diversity As Boise Booms, Former HUD Secretary Sees a Chance 23 for Greater Equity 25 Equity: A Natural Next Step in the Evolution of Cities 29 Building Equitable Cities in an Urban Nation How Three Cities Are Addressing Resilience, Equity, and 31 Revitalization Aiming for Equitable Development while Focusing on 33 Genuine Citizen Participation Planning for Equitable Transit-Oriented Development in 37 Sacramento Racial and Social Equity Increasingly Are Part of 39 Development Goals ULI Advisory Panel Charts Path for More Equitable 42 Kansas City Parks System Promoting Diversity and Inclusion Benefits 43 Communities—and the Bottom Line URBAN LAND READING LIST: MOVING TOWARDS MORE EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT 2 PROMOTING INCLUSIVE URBAN GROWTH IN THREE U.S. CITIES BY: KERRY CURRY FEBRUARY 25, 2019 The booming economy in the Dallas/Fort Worth downtown luxury residential high-rises, two metropolitan area, fueled by corporate relocations, Santiago Calatrava–designed bridges spanning business expansions, and in-migration, can the Trinity River, and the creation of Klyde Warren mask some of the region’s heady challenges: Park, a popular urban oasis built over a freeway rising home prices, a high poverty rate, and long- that connects portions of the urban core that term racial and economic segregation. A new had been previously bifurcated by the highway. study of three U.S. cities looks at mitigating Dallas’s problems, however, are visible for anyone inequality without stalling development. venturing south of Interstate 30, where high rates “Dallas in many respects is a microcosm of America,” of poverty are concentrated in mostly minority said Cullum Clark, director of the Bush Institute– neighborhoods marked by a history of neglect. SMU Economic Growth Initiative and an adjunct Dallas imposed racial housing segregation by professor of economics at Southern Methodist law in 1916, and that segregation was reinforced University, while speaking at an event in Dallas, through federal, state, and city policies through the cosponsored by ULI North Texas, in January. Clark years. And even though legal segregation ended is a contributing author to Beyond Gentrification: during the 1970s, it continued in other forms Towards More Equitable Urban Growth, a new report such as redlining by the banking industry, city from the Center for Opportunity Urbanism (COU) code enforcement that resulted in the demolition in Houston that was distributed at the event. of minority-owned homes, and years of neglect The report’s five other authors, including Joel Kotkin, of minority neighborhoods by Dallas City Hall. the executive director of the COU and a fellow in Dallas has not had the high-displacement urban futures at Chapman University, also spoke. gentrification that other places such as San The report takes a deep dive into development Francisco, New York, or Southern California in three major cities—Chicago, Los Angeles, have experienced, although fear exists that it and Dallas—and the impact on working-class could be headed in that direction, Clark said. and minority neighborhoods. While some So far, several gentrified areas of Dallas appear gentrification occurs organically as the result to be thriving without large displacements of market forces, some occurs as the result of of moderate-income people, including east conscious public policies, such as tax increment Dallas, Bishop Arts, and the Cedars. financing, or a combination of both. Plenty of opportunities exist for the Dallas area to Over the past couple of decades, Dallas’s city forge a path toward more inclusive urban growth center has undergone transformative changes in the future, he said, due in part to the abundant, with an expanded and revered arts district, new affordable land for development and redevelopment URBAN LAND READING LIST: MOVING TOWARDS MORE EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT 3 in the southern sector, where the city’s poor, minority large-scale land bank to acquire cheap land residents live. “We’ve had too little capital coming for future development, and the mobilization into southern Dallas, not too much,” said Clark, who of private capital to build 60,000 affordable said the land mass of southern Dallas exceeds homes that experts say are needed in Dallas. the whole city of Atlanta. Of southern Dallas’s Henry Cisneros, former U.S. secretary of the 250 square miles (647 sq km), an estimated nine Department of Housing and Urban Development square miles (23 sq km) are vacant and available under the Clinton administration, said that changes for development, according to the report. toward more equitable urban development Clark said there are economic arguments to means focusing on things such as educational consider for inclusive urban growth initiatives. opportunities from pre-kindergarten through community college, mobility to get lower-income “Historically, cities are the world’s greatest engines residents to job centers, infrastructure spending to of upward mobility, but we now know that where support growth initiatives, and affordable housing. a person grows up and lives has enormous impacts on their prospects in life,” he said. “A key element of this is intentionality,” Cisneros said. “Local communities have to decide, intentionally, The number of jobs in Dallas’s lower-income zip to create this harness between the growth codes—an area with 750,000 residents—has declined opportunities and the human capital needs,” he by 16.6 percent since 2000 while the population said. “It’s not good enough to just talk about this in those zip codes has grown by 7.1 percent, among the leadership elite at a cocktail party.” according to proprietary research using census data by Wendell Cox, a coauthor of the report and COU’s Kotkin said that gentrification in America’s a senior fellow at COU and the Frontier Centre for large cities had some positive results since it Public Policy in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. helped people rediscover the advantages of living in an urban core, but it failed to help the Said Clark: “I believe we are on a path that will pose plight of the middle class and working poor. real challenges to the sustainability of the whole region’s economy. We have really large numbers “The shift into the cities has slowed very of potential workers who are enormously spatially dramatically,” Kotkin said, noting as an example the removed from where the best opportunities are.” slowing population growth in New York City and the That creates severe labor market inefficiencies for declining population of San Francisco. While urban the booming northern suburbs where businesses renewal worked on some levels, it also came with cannot find enough low- and middle-skilled workers. its own set of problems. “This great urban renewal— urban renaissance—hasn’t ever really reached a Potential solutions outlined in the report include a large percentage, or even a majority, of the people in revamp of the city’s notoriously slow and difficult these urban areas,” he said. “Gentrification created zoning and permitting process, pursuit of federal its own undoing . by becoming so expensive.” funding opportunities such as the low-income housing tax credit and the new Opportunity Zone incentives, creation of a public or nonprofit URBAN LAND READING LIST: MOVING TOWARDS MORE EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT 4 BEYOND “BEST EFFORTS”: WHY COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE NEEDS TO CATCH UP ON DIVERSITY BY KIRK SIKES, EVAN MITCHELL, SOMMER HYMEN SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 This article appeared in the Fall issue of Urban Land on page 220. Diversity is best defined in one of two ways. Inherent The Yield on Diversity diversity relates to built-in characteristics, such as Once an organization has fully committed to creating age, gender, race, and disability. Acquired diversity diversity, it is likely to see improved performance as is derived from the sum of one’s experiences, well as an increased ability