An area in the Old Oakland neighborhood will be the study site for the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) 20th annual ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. Teams of graduate students from around the world will work in multidisciplinary teams to provide innovative design and development ideas for an existing large-scale urban site.  Student proposals must reflect a vision for Oakland’s downtown as a dynamic regional hub that welcomes the entire community.

“We are thrilled to bring the 2022 ULI Hines Student Competition to Oakland – it’s a town with significant cultural richness and opportunity,” said Eric Tao, chair of ULI San Francisco. “I got my start in development with my first project in Uptown Oakland 20-years ago, and by looking to the future, I’m excited to see all the new ideas this competition brings to the forefront for re-energizing this area of downtown as a part of Oakland’s broader cultural and economic landscape for all to enjoy.”

97 teams representing 51 universities in the United States, Canada, China, the Netherlands, and Egypt have registered to compete for $50,000. $5,000 will go to the university or universities of the winning team, and each of the remaining three finalist teams will receive $10,000.

The competition encourages cooperation and teamwork—necessary talents in the planning, design, and development of great places—among future real estate professionals and the many allied professions. Teams must be multidisciplinary, consisting of five students representing at least three different disciplines, including real estate development, architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, finance, historic preservation, engineering, and law.

The competition allows each team 15 days to create a proposal that illustrates innovative approaches to five general elements: 1) planning context and analysis, 2) a master land use plan, 3) urban design, 4) site-specific illustrations of new development, and 5) development schedule and finances. Prior to the competition, participants receive project briefing materials, including a comprehensive statement of the challenge, background information on the site, market information, relevant existing design proposals, and site maps and photos.

The first round of the competition will run from January 10-24. By late February, a jury of ULI members who are experts in real estate, land use, and design will select four finalist teams. During the second round of the competition, the four finalist teams will expand their original proposals. The teams will present their revised proposal twice: first to a panel of local experts in March, and then to the jury during the finale in April.

The competition is funded through an endowment from Gerald D. Hines, chairman and founder of the global Hines real estate organization and a recipient of the 2002 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. A legend in the real estate industry, Hines was widely known as a leader who pioneered the use of high-quality planning and architecture as a marketable feature of development in office, residential, and mixed-use projects.

A brief video about the competition is available here. For more information on the ULI Hines Student Competition, visit uli.org/hines. Best of luck to all the teams, we look forward to meeting the finalists in April!