What do legos have to do with real estate development?  UrbanPlan!  ULI’s land use planning and real estate development program, created by ULI and the Fisher Center for Real Estate at UC Berkeley.

UrbanPlan strives to change the land use decision-making process by providing high school seniors with the understanding, insights, and language to become engaged and informed problem solvers. Over the course of the 15 class-hour project and prior to the presentations, land use professionals, who have attended UrbanPlan volunteer training, interact several times with the student teams.

Heidi Tschudin, Tschudin Consulting Group, an UrbanPlan volunteer says, “UrbanPlan is amazing.  I’ve been a land use planner for 30 years and an instructor for much of that time, and I have never seen a program connect the dots so well for these kids.  They become engaged, and they grapple with real trade-offs about real issues.  Plus what’s not to like..combining legos and spreadsheets is brilliant!”

As “Facilitators,” ULI Members and UP volunteers challenge the students to think more critically about the UrbanPlan issues and the specific responsibilities of their “role” (Finance, Market, Site Planner, City Liaison, or Neighborhood Liaison).

At “City Council,” ULI Members hear student presentations, engage and challenge their proposals as in an actual City Council hearing, and award the development contract to the winning team. This marks ULI Sacramento’s 10th year conducting UrbanPlan at McClatchy High.