UrbanPlan Leaders Forum:

Once you become a trained volunteer, you’re invited to join our UrbanPlan Leaders Forum (ULF).

The ULF meets three times a year to refresh our skills in UrbanPlan, get updated on the latest UrbanPlan activity in the district council and hear from guest speakers related to development and planning in our region.

Upcoming meetings: Spring 2025

UrbanPlan Volunteer Training:

Join us as a trained volunteer for UrbanPlan.

Planning degree not required!
Regardless of your career stage or real estate specialty, you can be a great UrbanPlan volunteer. We value a variety of expertise within the real estate industry. UrbanPlan training provides everything you need to know to be a great volunteer. For questions regarding training, check out our FAQ below.

What is UrbanPlan?

UrbanPlan is a realistic, engaging exercise in which participants—high school students, university students, or public officials—learn about the fundamental forces that affect

real estate development in our communities. Participants experience the challenging issues, private and public sector roles, complex trade-offs, and fundamental economics in play when proposing realistic land use solutions to vexing growth challenges.

UrbanPlan in the Houston community

Trained UrbanPlan volunteers can have two roles:

1) facilitate teams of students or public officials to redevelop a hypothetical blighted area via a public-private partnership, and

2) serve on a mock city councils to judge presentations and select a winning team at the end of the session. All volunteers must first complete a daylong training session in which they learn the intricacies of the exercise and then how best to communicate their real life experience to the students in the classroom. Once the one time training is completed, the time demand on the volunteers is flexible and self scheduled as the program is run at multiple times and locations each semester.

FAQ for Volunteers

1. Do I have to be a ULI member to volunteer?
   1. No! We welcome any Real Estate professional who fit the criteria.
2. I don’t have a planning degree, am I qualified?
   1. Yes! You do not need to know how to plan or develop a project. We’ll teach you everything you need to know. And we enjoy sharing all the different types of careers in real estate with the students. And who knows, maybe you’ll learn something new too!
3. Why do I have to be trained?
   1. Volunteers are trained on what the program entails, what the students will be learning and guidance on how to facilitate your meetings with students. Schools trust ULI to provide expert facilitators in their class!
4. How often do I have to be trained?
   1. Once! While there may be curriculum updates that periodically need reviewing, completing the main training course is only required once.
5. How long is training?
   1. A few hours – taken at your own pace online.