ULI UK has developed a pilot scheme that will bring the UrbanPlan educational initiative to the United Kingdom. Created by ULI in the U.S. in partnership with the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California at Berkeley, UrbanPlan is designed to nurture an understanding of the built environment among young people.

The programme, which is interactive and classroom-based, is aimed at secondary school and university students. UrbanPlan tasks student teams to address options for the redevelopment of a blighted site in a hypothetical community, examining the project from a number of different perspectives. The programme is taught by ULI members and is run through ULI’s District Councils. Since its launch in 2004, it has reached more than 20,000 students across the United States and has enabled more than 1,500 ULI members to share their knowledge and experience with the future leaders in the field of real estate.

The UK UrbanPlan pilot scheme, funded by the IPF Educational Trust and the ULI Charitable Trust, will be developed with assistance from educational consultancy EdComs in order to meet the UK’s curriculum requirements. It will be targeted in the first instance at ‘A’ level students studying geography and business studies in three state schools and will be delivered through a series of workshops by property and teaching professionals. The objective is to bring the property industry to life in a way that is compelling for young people and relevant to the ‘A’ level syllabus, and to encourage more young people from all walks of life to consider property careers.

If the programme is successful, ULI Europe hopes to expand UrbanPlan the UK and potentially longer-term into other European Countries.

To learn more about this initiative, please visit the UrbanPlan page.