Facilitating a Global Land Use Information Exchange: Jeremy Newsum is New Chairman of the Urban Land Institute

WASHINGTON -

Jeremy Newsum, Executive Trustee of the Grosvenor Estate, is the new Chairman of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), a global non-profit research and education institute dedicated to responsible land use. As ULI Chairman, Newsum will serve on a voluntary basis for a two-year term that ends on June 30, 2011.

The Grosvenor Estate, based in the United Kingdom, is a portfolio of businesses, rural estates and other investments, including Grosvenor, an international property group of privately-owned property development, investment and fund management businesses. Grosvenor, with property assets under management of US$20 billion, has interests in Central London, other areas of the UK, continental Europe, Southeast Asia, North America and Australia. From 1989 through June 2008, Newsum was also Group Chief Executive of Grosvenor.

A member of ULI since 1997, Newsum, 53, is a UK citizen who lives in Cambridge, England. One of the ULI’s great strengths, he says, is its ability to bring together land use professionals from around the world who share knowledge and local experiences that can be applied in disparate markets. “ULI has the global knowledge base to understand issues and present them in a way that makes them common currency in different types of discussions, in vastly different places. This results in a much richer information exchange,” Newsum says. “My hope is that I, as a non-American, can help further promote the idea of ULI being international, and that I can act as a bridge between the Americas, Europe and Asia to stimulate a greater exchange of ideas and information.”

According to Richard Rosan, Chief Executive Officer of ULI Worldwide, Newsum’s vast international land use expertise will be an invaluable asset as the organization continues its global outreach.

“Jeremy recognizes that urban regions worldwide are dealing with many of the same issues related to growth, such as population and demographic shifts, urbanization, and providing adequate housing and infrastructure. His keen grasp of ULI’s potential to influence land use decisions internationally has been a major factor in the Institute’s successful globalization,” Rosan says. “He takes a very holistic, comprehensive approach to the land use business, and this will serve ULI very well as the economy works its way through the recession and beyond.”

Newsum was most recently chairman of ULI’s Policy and Practice Committee, which guides the Institute’s research and publishing agenda. He plans to continue ULI’s emphasis on four priority areas: 1) sustainability, including environmentally and economically viable investment and development; 2) connecting infrastructure and land use planning; 3) workforce housing; and 4) capital markets. These areas of focus, Newsum believes, are long-term issues that affect the land use industry irrespective of market cycles or economic downturns. “These priority areas are absolutely critical for members now, even though the economy is very different than it was when those priorities were chosen (two years ago),” he says.

Newsum’s 20-plus years at Grosvenor have taught him the value of being patient and taking a long-term view (Grosvenor was founded more than 330 years ago). “Understanding timing and time scales is absolutely critical (to being successful) in land use. The business of community building spans decades. Each of us is adding something to what is ultimately a continuous process,” he says.” And, what we are contributing is not about us telling other people what they need. It’s about meeting the needs of the people who live in a city. In the end, developers are facilitators of what people really want to do with their city.”

About the Urban Land Institute

The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 35,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines. Currently, there are more than 60 ULI district councils located in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Source: Urban Land Institute

Trisha Riggs of the Urban Land Institute, +1-202-624-7086, priggs at uli.org / NOTE TO EDITORS: To arrange an interview with Jeremy Newsum, contact Trisha Riggs, Vice President, ULI Communications, 202-624-7086, priggs at uli.org.