40 Under 40 is Urban Land‘s way of recognizing and supporting the work of 40 amazing young leaders from around the globe. “This elite group presents the innovators who are shaping the future of our global cities,” said ULI Global Chief Executive Officer Patrick L. Phillips. “They are the influential leaders who both embrace the best practices in land use and think outside the box to drive positive change in the built environment.”

The competition, which started in 2014, provides ULI members with the opportunity to nominate young leaders in any of the land use disciplines represented by the Institute, including design, development, finance, planning, landscape architecture, sustainability, public policy, transit, urban infrastructure, and academia. From the pool of nominations, a jury of leading ULI members selects a group of 40 real estate professionals under 40 years of age.

At the ULI Fall Meeting in Dallas, three of the Bay Area’s finest were announced as winners of this award. Read below to learn more about them and click here to see the rest of 2016’s winners!

Craig Hamburg:

For Craig Hamburg, good city-making is the key to good development. As vice president of DDG, he helped turn Hayes Valley from a freeway off-ramp into one of the most popular and interesting neighborhoods in San Francisco.

“Living and working in Hayes Valley started my relationship with the community,” says Hamburg. “I established myself as a neighbor, in addition to being a real estate developer.”

DDG’s four Hayes Valley projects, which feature innovative designs by distinguished architects, prioritize their connection with the neighborhood over creation of the maximum number of housing units. They thoughtfully integrate inclusionary housing units offered at affordable, below-market prices and include retail tenants chosen to complement the neighborhood rather than for maximum rent. Features likes these helped ease opposition to new development.

“The Hayes Valley community understands the complexities of urban infill development and is extremely thoughtful in their project review,” he says.

Hamburg paved the way for development in Hayes Valley before he joined DDG with The Hayes, a project undertaken by Intercorp in 2005 after the Central Freeway was removed. Despite there being no comps and few signs of the coming renaissance, Hamburg convinced investors to back a premium product positioned for the neighborhood’s future.

He is vice president of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association and has served on the association board since 2012. He also sits on the association’s transportation and planning committee, which focuses on affordable housing, traffic calming, transit, and pedestrian/bicyclist safety. “As a neighbor, I am around for the long haul rather than until the projects are completed,” Hamburg says.

Riki Nishimura:

Riki Nishimura is an architect specializing in urban design and architecture with a focus on psychology of spaces, repairing cities and solving complex intertwined issues through urban strategies. As the Director of Urban Strategies in Woods Bagot’s San Francisco office for almost three years, Nishimura played a key role in research focused design strategies that extend into areas beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism while ensuring pragmatic but visionary solutions for his clients. Project are tackled from an ecological, data driven and evidence based design perspective. Nishimura’s projects all seek a critical balance between visionary design and fiscally responsible economic development to achieve memorable, sustainable, and enduring places for both the public and private realm. He recently took a new role at Gensler’s San Francisco office where he will be directing their planning, landscape and urban strategies unit practice areas.

Nishimura has been a member of ULI for over a decade, first in Boston and now in San Francisco where he is a mentor for younger leaders. He has also participated in both ULI Advisory Services and local Technical Assistance Panels, which he says has had an influence on his professional work. “ULI’s advisory work is really an opportunity for us as professional and citizens to give back to our cities and tackle these complex topics together. One of the things I really appreciate and look forward to, is spending time with other interesting and experienced ULI panel members from various disciplines of placemaking, real estate and finance….it’s always an eye opening experience and an opportunity to create places that matter….together.”

Tim Cornwell:

Tim Cornwell worked his way up the ranks at San Francisco–based real estate advisory firm the Concord Group, becoming the youngest principal in the company’s 26-year history in just nine years. As a close adviser to some of the country’s most prominent real estate developers, he has a knack for predicting real estate trends among various demographics, which has propelled the firm’s growth as a consultancy leader in the Bay Area residential market. His residential real estate expertise spans 1,000-plus projects in gateway cities like Seattle, Boston, and Dallas.

Cornwell takes an analytical approach to urban development, relying heavily on data metrics to answer the housing industry’s most pressing questions and, in turn, maximize the economic viability of his clients’ projects. His dedication and strong leadership on affordable housing projects have allowed the firm to consult on groundbreaking developments of smart communities. Cornwell aims to offer support to his peers through organizations like ULI and SPUR, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association.

“We help developers make very good strategic decisions for the future,” he says. “That means we have to be smart about how everything is changing and really understand all the metrics, demographics, and individual development projects from a quantitative perspective, which allows us to make better decisions.”