Hello from Day 30!

It’s been a tremendous month as I settle in as ULI Washington’s Executive Director. I’m grateful for the opportunities to connect and to reconnect with many of you. Thank you for welcoming me back into the fold; it’s good to be home.

As I reflect on my last 30 days, and on the future ahead, the broad question I find myself swirling around is this:

What does reemergence look like?

ULI Washington is a community of practitioners, thought leaders, and professionals who, collectively, have significant influence over the daily lives of all who live in the Metropolitan Washington Region. This is because our work shapes neighborhoods and communities – and people are, in turn, shaped by their neighborhoods and communities.

Over the past 21+ months, our neighborhoods and communities morphed in ways we never could have anticipated. We experienced the home becoming the simultaneous office, classroom, workout facility, and dine-in restaurant (yet such a concentrated mixed-use space does not exist in any zoning code that I am aware of!). We experienced decreased use of traditional office space, and a corresponding decline in business that serve traditional office users. We experienced changing traffic patterns and shifts in modal preferences unlike ever before. We experienced major changes in the way we interact with retail – from experiential to delivery. We even experienced disruption in the disruptive economy.

These experiences are illustrative of adaptations we developed to meet the need of the current moment. I suspect most of these adaptations will continue to change. As one moment evolves into the next one, we find ourselves faced with fascinating questions, challenges, and realities that we, as the ULI Washington community, are uniquely qualified to address.

For instance, consider the “emergency emergence” of streeteries throughout the region that we collectively welcomed as both gathering places and retail nodes. What happens to these streeteries now that indoor dining becomes more viable, now that traffic picks up, and now that street parking demand has, once again, shifted?

Consider the increases in office vacancy that we all observed. Also consider the dire need for additional housing that is affordable. (Such a need has existed for a long time, but the past 21 months only exacerbated inequities and amplified the need for more housing across all categories.) How might we reconcile – or even rebalance – this phenomenon across use types in a metropolitan area that is already largely built out?

Finally, consider our strong economy. The Metropolitan Washington Region is among the most educated in the country, and we have created a precedent that many (though not all) jobs can be conducted remotely. What does this mean for commuting patterns, and for the choices we make about where – and how – we live, work, and play?

All these questions are now at play in a way they never were before. To me, these questions serve as a fascinating intellectual exercise. More importantly, these questions create a foundation for the way we, as a region, reemerge. They are the fundamental underpinnings of the work that lies ahead for all of us.

So – what does reemergence look like? To be honest, I’m not sure, but I’m really looking forward to collaborating with you to figure it out, and to navigating the way forward together.