Jumping Back Into Volunteerism – ULI’s UrbanPlan for Communities

So many things took a back seat to normal during the worst of the pandemic: social life, business process, dressy clothes, and sadly for me, volunteerism.  I am happy to report that I am jumping back into professional volunteerism with a timely UrbanPlan refresher course, presented by Sophie Lambert, Vice President, UrbanPlan at Urban Land Institute. While I have been an UrbanPlan volunteer for the better part of a decade, the refresher is most welcome and timely as I prepare for co-leading UrbanPlan for communities next month for the City of Morgan Hill, here in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.

If you are not familiar with UrbanPlan, it is a realistic urban planning exercise, gamifying urban planning by exploring the fundamental forces that influence development (in this case, redevelopment) in communities. Participants serve in private and public sector roles, work with complex trade-off decisions and economics to create and present a competitive proposal to secure the winning development proposal through a mock City Council presentation. UrbanPlan is designed for high school and university students, with a separate, professional curriculum, UrbanPlan for Communities, design for public officials.

If you are not familiar with UrbanPlan, you can investigate the program through ULI. I invite you to join me in a rewarding return to volunteerism by training as an UrbanPlan volunteer.