Since its inception in 2016, Urbanism Summit has functioned as a multidisciplinary platform bringing together professionals, city governments, community stakeholders and innovators tackling inefficiencies in urbanization as it applies to the future of cities, their makers and dwellers. The Urbanism Summit’s focus is on innovative and educational activations bridging professional and stakeholder silos for a more collaborative and people-centric approach to urbanism.
Facilitating action-based discussions, we aim to help provide strategies for shaping the future built environment – transportation, urban planning/design, development, construction, architecture, policy making, wellness, climate/environment, smart cities, entrepreneurship, arts/culture, and more – with people in mind.
The Urbanism Summit will be held on May 23rd in the Miami Design District from 8:30am to 3:30pm.
LAB Ventures is hosting the second edition of the Future of Real Estate Tech Summit Miami bringing together 350 leading investors, start-ups developing disruptive technologies, and established real estate and construction companies. Thanks to our curated audience connections made at this summit have lead to investment rounds, partnerships and pilot programs.
We are entering into a new phase of real estate technology where companies are starting to leverage virtual reality to create smarter spaces, machine learning to standardize and insights from industry data to more efficiently manage transaction services.
Licify (Bogota, Colombia) – A specialized procurement management platform that generates an efficient and transparent community with developers, contractors, and suppliers.
Prompto (Ghent, Belgium) – A service that allows you to design and sell a property before it’s built.
Sisu (Bountiful, Utah) – A sales performance management and business intelligence software platform for the real estate and mortgage industry.
LIKK Technologies (Miami, Fla.) – A smart building early water leak alert and mitigation platform that allows you to keep a building dryer, safer, greener and smarter.
Tap2Open (Boca Raton, Fla.) – A unique smartphone access control system for gated communities, office buildings, storage facilities, parking lots and more.
Kwant AI (New York, N.Y.) – An analytics platform using Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence to increase productivity and safety on construction sites.
Zeki by Razz (Miami, Fla.) – An entirely flexible marketing content management system that property managers and real estate teams use to attract tenants.
Cove.tool (Atlanta, Ga.) – An app designed to allow architects, engineers, contractors, and owners to save money, comply with the latest energy codes, and make effective design decisions.
Leasecake (Winter Park, Fla.) – Leasecake is lease management made easy for commercial landlords and tenants. Our patent pending SaaS platform is an intuitive organization and notification system for leases that reduces risk, increases cash flow, and provides faster information to grow your business.
Avvir (New York, N.Y.) – A service that unleashes the potential of building information modeling technology by closing the feedback loop and keeping building models continuously updated.
Here is your opportunity to rub elbows with some of Miami’s most influential women in real estate. This event is a unique opportunity to meet in small groups with the women board members from the MRED+U Advisory Board, Miami Business School Board and the School of Law RPD LLM Board. The format will be a speed-mentoring event where each board member has a single topic per table and attendees rotate tables (four table rotations of 20 minutes each).
For anyone looking to elevate their commercial real estate game this course is highly recommended. Dive into Urban Commercial Real Estate Development through The U’s upcoming Intro to RED course on April 6th (8:30am -2:30pm). Learn the fundamentals to become a successful developer at this all-in-one MRED+U seminar taught by Prof. Steve Nostrand (of One Commercial)
Full disclosure: Steve was my professor while I was enrolled in the University of Miami’s Masters of Real Estate Development + Urbanism program. Steve is legit and a great teacher with decades of commercial real estate knowledge. A real estate Jedi if you will.
This seminar offers the keys to the core issues facing real estate developers today such as:
What type of developer do you want to be? How developers make money Assessing the real value of land Understanding land use, zoning and other public policies The keys to successful development Managing risk How to conduct a preliminary financial feasibility Important financial terms and ratios Key aspects of developing each property type The integrated stages of development The different types of leases How to borrow money Details of joint venture structures Purchasing notes and distressed properties
Who should attend?
Real estate brokers and associates Mortgage brokers Bankers Lawyers Financial advisors and planners Public officials Real estate owners Property managers Investors
Steve’s Bio:
As the third generation in his family to specialize in commercial real estate, Stephen has a diverse background in not only executive leadership, but CRE service lines including investments sales and leasing brokerage, development, debt and equity capital markets, project management, strategic planning, asset and property management, receiverships, training and education. Prior to joining ONE Commercial Real Estate, he was CEO/COO of NAI Miami and CEO of the Colliers International South Florida office. Mr. Nostrand is a professor in the Master of Real Estate Development + Urbanism program at the University of Miami.
According to the 2019 Dangerous by Design report by Smart Growth America, Florida is the most dangerous state in the country for pedestrians and cyclists. In fact, of 9 out of the 20 most dangerous metropolitan areas in the US are in Florida.
My family and I have lived in Miami’s Belle Meade neighborhood for the past 9 years and we have witnessed no less than 70 crashes which have resulted in cars hitting midblock crosswalks, light posts, bus shelters, traffic signs, medians, trees and people at very high rate of speeds. Several months ago my 5-year-old son and I were struck while crossing Biscayne Boulevard, in a midblock crosswalk, that wasn’t working properly because it was hit by a speeding vehicle over a year ago and never repaired.
In addition, according to the FDOT’s data there were at least 2,553 crashes reported from January 2011 to July 2018 from (36th Street to 87th Street). During that time at least 64 pedestrians and cyclists were involved in crashes according to the FDOT.
When the FDOT redesigned Biscayne Boulevard about 15 years ago, the focus was to move cars as fast as possible. Very little thought and consideration was given to the safely of pedestrians and cyclists when we redesigned and resurfaced Biscayne Boulevard. There are many areas along Biscayne Boulevard that do not have a crosswalk for 3 or 4 blocks. In some cases there is only 1 crosswalk every 5 or 6 blocks. There are also many sections along Biscayne Boulevard where cars are moving at 45+mph within 2-3 feet of pedestrians. We can do better than this.
Design Speed Matters
Our problem with Biscayne Boulevard lies in its design speed.
“Speed limits are not necessarily known during the design process of a new road as they are determined after the roadway is built by evaluating how the motorists use the roadway.
Before a new road is built, engineers choose a design speed to guide their decisions about the various geometric design features of the roadway. The geometric design criteria were developed in the 1940s. And for much of the time since, engineering practices have focused on moving cars quickly and efficiently. In other words, engineers value speed and volume over safety and cost.”
The speed limit on Biscayne Boulevard is 35 mph, but its design speed is closer to 45mph. If we want to make Biscayne Boulevard safer, seems like the speed limit and design speed should not exceed 30mph.
Image: Seattle Department of Transportation
How can we make Biscayne Boulevard safer?
Luckily there are inexpensive traffic calming strategies we could implement rather quickly that would help reduce the design speed along Biscayne Boulevard. If some variation of these strategies were to be implemented, our main street would be safer for everyone (including drivers).
Here are some traffic calming options we should consider:
Reduce travel lane width from 12 feet to 8 or 10 feet.
Add on street parking. On street parking serves as a buffer and protects pedestrians from moving vehicles.
Add crosswalks at every intersection
Add protected bike lanes
Please join the Biscayne Boulevard Community at Legion Park on February 23rd at 11am to meet with the FDOT and walk Biscayne Boulevard.
There is yoga in the park at 10am and there is also the Saturday Farmers Market. Bring the family and let’s work together to make Biscayne Boulevard safer for everyone.
Please spread the word!
Below are images of Biscayne Boulevard crashes involving mid-block crosswalks, light posts, bus shelters and traffic signs. Many of the light posts and mid-block crosswalks have been broken for over a year and have not been repaired.
