I attended the ULI Florida Summit last week in Aventura, Florida. The primary focus of ULI is to promote real estate development while focusing on being good stewards of the land through sustainable growth principles. Richard Florida led the kick off session by discussing how society has transformed over the last 150 years from an agricultural based economy through the industrial evolution of the 20th century to a creative class. His book The Rise of the Creative Class talks about how people with creative minds and thoughts have altered job creation in America from blue collar manufacturing to white collar entrepreneurial and that these individuals will survive regardless of America’s economic state.
My Medical Product Council toured VI-a senior housing facility that provides progressive care for individuals seeking to continue in a senior housing environment from retirement age to bereavement. The business model requires an option of an initial lump sum or partial payment structure that is refundable based on a sliding scale. The advantage of this type of arrangement is that you lock in your price for healthcare regardless of how much additional medical service you need during the aging process. This concept is ideal for individuals who have an exorbitant amount of disposable income to allocate to this model.
Finally, the conference concluded with Kent Larson (Director of the Changing Places Research Group & Co-Director, the City Science Initiative, and MIT Media Lab) who discussed the fascinating inventions that are being created to maximize space in the built environment through innovative design and the integration of technology. These designs provide people the option of living in 300sqft in Urban America with the same amenities as someone living elsewhere with 1,000sqft.
