Urban Land Institute Launches California-Nevada Partnership to Advance Urban Resilience and Climate Leadership

WASHINGTON – RealEstateRama — The Urban Land Institute (ULI) today announced a new regional initiative in partnership with seven public agencies across California and Nevada to accelerate resilient and sustainable land use practices. The California-Nevada Technical Assistance Leadership Exchange will provide cities and institutions with expert guidance to confront growing environmental challenges, including extreme heat, drought, and earthquakes, along with their associated economic and social impacts.

This yearlong program brings together local governments, ULI’s District Councils, and private-sector real estate leaders to develop forward-looking land use strategies that are equitable, innovative, and grounded in local needs.

Participating locations include Long Beach, Needles, San Diego, San Jose, Sacramento and Sacramento County (a joint project), and Nevada State University.

This effort is funded through a generous gift from Randall Lewis, member of the ULI Global Board of Directors and ULI Foundation Marcus Vitruvius Society and senior executive vice president of Lewis Management Corp. A portion of Lewis’ historic $10 million donation is dedicated to advancing resilient and sustainable development in California and Nevada.

“As someone with deep ties in California and Nevada, I’m proud to support this program and the District Councils that are partnering with local governments and others to solve resilience challenges in the region,” Lewis said. “The program’s sustained local engagement, technical assistance, and opportunities for cross-community exchange and learning will provide powerful avenues for impact.”

Each agency will host a technical assistance panel (TAP), a multi-day engagement bringing together real estate leaders to assess local resilience challenges and deliver tailored, actionable recommendations. Topics will include heat mitigation, sustainable housing, mobility, infrastructure, and climate-adaptive urban design. Highlights from the local projects include:

• Sacramento & Sacramento County are tackling extreme heat through joint strategies that transcend jurisdictional boundaries.
• San Diego is designing “missing middle” housing typologies with heat-resilient design elements.
• Nevada State University is master-planning a 400-acre mixed-use innovation district with water and climate resilience in mind.
• Needles, which regularly sees summer temperatures above 110°F, is focused on heat mitigation and infrastructure investment to support long-term growth.
• Long Beach is exploring pathways for resilient retrofits while mitigating displacement in the Alamitos Beach neighborhood.
• San José is developing implementation strategies for the city’s forthcoming Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan (CARP) to address the impacts of climate change, with a focus on vulnerable communities.

“The City and County are proud to participate in ULI’s California-Nevada Technical Assistance Leadership Exchange,” said Joelle Inman, Principal Planner at Sacramento County. “We formed this partnership because although we are two distinct jurisdictions, we know that extreme heat and its impacts do not know jurisdictional boundaries. Our shared challenges require shared strategies.”

Vic Randall, Senior Planner at the City of Sacramento added, “We look forward to working with leading experts who can provide us with the tools necessary to advance innovative, cross jurisdictional solutions to make our communities more resilient to extreme heat.”

Through peer learning, in-person convenings, and participation in ULI’s national gatherings, the program also supports public-sector capacity building, deepens cross-sector relationships, and helps ensure local innovations can scale across the region.

The program will run through mid-2026, with final insights and takeaways published to benefit cities and agencies nationwide.

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The Urban Land Institute is a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has more than 48,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines. For more information on ULI, please visit uli.org, or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.