Developers can build the kind of housing Americans actually want— walkable, connected neighborhoods that improve quality of life and strengthen local economies. Yet decades of U.S. policy and zoning have made these places nearly impossible to deliver, leaving enormous unmet demand on the table.
Culdesac has spent the last seven years proving that building mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods in the United States is a scalable model that delivers what residents and cities actually want. This Small Bites session will offer a practical, actionable look at how Culdesac did it, and how your city or development project can, too.
Join us to learn how to scale affordable urban homeownership with Frolic Community's innovative co-op model. Proven in Seattle and now expanding to California, this approach leverages cooperative ownership structures to make homeownership accessible through reduced down payments and developer-homeowner partnerships from day one.
Presented by Josh Morrison, COO and Co-Founder of Frolic Community, this virtual session will cover co-op economics in action, the collaborative development approach, and pathways to launch your first community-centered infill project.
Sometimes finding viable development sites requires thinking back to traditional people-centric methods that AI cannot perform. This interactive session explores creative approaches to site identification that go beyond listings, broker packages, and AI services. Learn how to utilize people, technology, and curiosity to discover hidden opportunities before they hit the market.
Historic places carry more than bricks and mortar — they hold stories, cultural memory, and the potential to inspire new economic growth. Yet, too often, these spaces are undervalued or overlooked in favor of new construction. This session reframes historic redevelopment as both a financial and cultural investment. By combining entrepreneurial insight with community-centered storytelling, developers, investors, and stakeholders can unlock new value in old spaces while honoring the legacy of those who came before.
Join us with author Mike Hathorne, as he discusses what his book “The Great Housing Reversal” uncovers about America’s housing future. We’ll explore the largest demographic shift in housing since WWII, changing where people want to live and how value is created and what the next generation wants: smaller homes, walkable neighborhoods, and real connection, while sprawl leaves cities with unsustainable costs.
The Abundance Elected Network launched in 2025 following the release of the book "Abundance" by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, and has rapidly grown to include 150+ mayors, council members, county supervisors, and commissioners from 32 states.
In this session, discover what connects these local leaders and how they're applying abundance principles to foster incremental development in their communities. Learn about the network's core philosophies, real-world implementation strategies, and opportunities to collaborate with this growing movement of officials who are rethinking how cities and towns can grow sustainably and equitably.
This session will help you understand how project incentives and grants actually work in real deals. You will learn how common public and philanthropic funding sources function, what problems they are designed to solve, and why they add complexity to projects. The session breaks down key mechanisms, typical requirements, and the stakeholders involved, from funders to local governments to lenders.
Master the art of finding and applying U.S. Census data to strengthen your small-scale development projects. This hands-on session uses real examples from Jonesboro and Bryant, Arkansas to demonstrate how to quickly retrieve American Community Survey (ACS) data and translate it into powerful market analysis.
