ULI members seek more public-private joint ventures

Long-term, solid relationships between the private and public sector are invaluable in securing investment into urban areas, according to a recent survey of the 2,300 European members of Urban Land Institute.

ULI is the global research and education institute dedicated to responsible land use.

The survey showed that 48% of the respondents thought that building long-term relationships with cities was the way to make investment happen for leading investors and developers, while 62% reported that more joint ventures between public and private sector were the way forward in the next 10-20 years. Only 10% thought that Europe lacked good projects in which to invest.

ULI outlined the survey findings at the Urban Investment Network's first ever summit in Barcelona on Thursday.

In addition, ULI announced that the cities of Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Istanbul have joined with Barcelona as founding partners of the Urban Investment Network platform. The Urban Investment Network's mission is to provide a platform to share best practices in collaboration between public and private sector organisations. The network's private sector founding partners are Allianz Real Estate, ECE, Eurohypo and ING Real Estate Development.

A total of 18 partners have now joined the network including Deutsche Bank, OECD, the UK Government Department for Communities and Local Government, and Birmingham City. Workshops have been held across Europe in the past year, including a session hosted in Brussels by the European Investment Bank, which fed into the recently published Urban Investment Network report, Value Capture Finance: Making Urban Development Pay Its Way.

ULI said that the financial crisis has amplified the need for such a deep knowledge and relationship building platform for cities, investors and developers. 'Our goal by the end of 2011 is to create a vibrant network of 100 cities and metropolitan areas with 100 investors and developers, facilitated by ULI and with the support of leading European institutions, to share knowledge on the best ways to collaborate in urban investment and regeneration. We are well on track,' said Bill Kistler, President of ULI EMEAI.