Five Harvard University students have won the 21st Urban Land Institute Hines Student Competition, which asks multidisciplinary teams of graduate students to tackle challenging land use development issues.
The annual interdisciplinary ideas competition was originally launched in 2003 with a gift to the ULI Foundation from real estate developer Gerald D. Hines, founder and chairman of real estate manager Hines.
Real estate investment manager Hines Americas supported this year's competition that featured 84 entries from five-member teams from 39 universities in Canada, India and the U.S., said Gwyneth Cote, president of ULI Americas, in an email. Hines has $95.8 billion in assets under management.
The winning students' $843 million redevelopment proposal for North Charleston, S.C., called Knot Charleston, offered solutions to the area's challenges including severe flood risks from rising sea levels caused by climate change. The plan included urban greenhouses to help address food deserts and create jobs; rain gardens and green roofs to mitigate floods and extreme heat; solar panels, bike lanes and pedestrian walkways to reduce greenhouse gases; and affordable housing.
The winning team received a $45,000 award, with another $5,000 to Harvard.
"Knot Charleston … was selected because the plan had a vision for a new downtown that addressed the post-COVID environment, social inequality, and climate change by integrating exemplary financials along with a design that offered ample access points to the water throughout with a well-conceived mix of industrial and residential scales," Ms. Cote said.
