Introduction to Commercial Real Estate and its Impacts

In Part 1, we define Commercial Real Estate, briefly tracing the history of cities and work that led to the development of the major commercial property types. We then discuss real estate¿s major impacts ¿ economic, social, environmental, and cultural. In Part 2, we define a real estate developer as the entrepreneur who links the space market and asset market to shift values from low productivity to high productivity in the provision of space and assets in the economic framework as well as society in general. In Part 3, we look more broadly at the interdisciplinary impacts of real estate and the standard impact frameworks, including PRI, SRI, ESG, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We conclude with a discussion of equity in real estate ¿ historical inequity in the US (including redlining and gentrification) and looking forward to the tools that allow equitable community ownership, including public development, community land trusts, and community development corporations.