International Real Estate and Urban Developments

Real estate, in the international realm, is anchored at the intersection of economic activities, capital flows, and the spatial transformation of the environment. While different locales may entail distinct contextual elements embedded in real estate and design practices, fluid cross-border capital operation and increasingly connected institutional actors at the global scale constitute a formidable force in shaping and guiding the formation and operational mechanism of the built urban environment.

Through lectures, case studies, charrettes, and class discussions, this course provides students with knowledge and insights about the process and analytical frameworks of real estate development and investment from a comparative and trans-regional perspective. It begins by introducing institutional parameters that measure the comparative forces and disruptions framing the current landscapes of international real estate. And it then proceeds to examine analytical frameworks assessing the risks, opportunities, and performance of international real estate. The course concentrates on real estate practice models and emerging asset types that are deployed in selected locations of the world. Real estate financing strategies, institutional features, operational tactics, and physical design maneuvers of real estate projects located in countries and regions of Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas are analyzed and interpreted through a lens of the decision-making process at the project and urban dimensions.