Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Alumni
  • Login
  • Volunteer
  • Clubs
  • Reunions
  • Bulletin
  • Class Notes
  • Help
  • Give Now
  • Stories
  • Alumni Directory
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Careers
  • Programs & Events
  • Giving
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Alumni→
  • Stories→

Stories

Stories

01 Mar 2018

In My Humble Opinion: Urban Renewal

Anti-development developer takes the long view
Re: Dan Rosenfeld (MBA 1979); By: Julia Hanna
Topics: Society-Urban DevelopmentCareer-Career ChangesEnvironment-Natural Environment
ShareBar

photo by Christina Gandolfo

photo by Christina Gandolfo

Dan Rosenfeld (MBA 1979) witnessed the birth of the modern environmental movement while growing up in Portland, Oregon, an experience that has shaped his perspective as a real estate developer in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles. “There’s a yin and yang between the improvement of the built environment and the preservation of nature,” says Rosenfeld, a member of the California advisory board The Trust for Public Land. “I’d like to think we’re protecting the natural world every time we start to pile bricks and steel up into the sky. Making cities more attractive for people takes pressure off our open spaces.” A cofounder of Urban Partners—a developer of urban infill, mixed-use, and transit-oriented real estate—Rosenfeld has moved between the private and public sectors, serving as director of real estate for the State of California and the City of Los Angeles, in addition to assisting nonprofits with their land and building challenges through his volunteer work.

LA in three words: Diversity, unity, and talent. “It’s the world’s great urban laboratory, an example to Cairo, Jakarta, São Paulo, and other great megalopoli.”

Keep it all rolling: “Imagine a wheel. A developer is the hub where the spokes of land acquisition, design, finance, construction, marketing, sales, and building management all meet.”

Site specific: “Good development evolves from sensing what is unique about each place’s topography, history, economy, and aspirations. We serve as psychotherapists to neighborhoods.”

Favorite LA building: Los Angeles City Hall. “In a city that is so diverse and dispersed, it’s the symbol of common ground that draws us together and gives tangible expression to an intangible concept: democracy.”

Favorite space: The Los Angeles River. “It’s been polluted and paved, but it’s why the Gabrielino Indians and Mexican Pobladores—who founded Los Angeles—chose the location they did. Now, in a fascinating turn of events, we are restoring the waterfront with parks and tasteful development.”

No. 1 Fan: “For 32 years, my wife, Heidi Duckler, has had a modern dance company that performs in unusual urban spaces all over the world—the firing range of the LA Police Academy, a laundromat. Her work causes us to see the ordinary in extraordinary ways.”

Pas de deux: “Developers create a choreography of experiences. The motion of people through space is the deepest distillation of what a developer provides. It’s what Heidi does with dance.”

Boston souvenir: The wind on Weeks Bridge in February. “Extreme weather reminds us that, no matter how important we think we are, people are really very small animals.”

Last laps: “When I was a competitive runner, we pushed hard when we got close to the end of a race. I want to take life the same way. There will be a finish—there is for all of us—but the closer I get, the harder I’m going to sprint.”

ShareBar

Featured Alumni

Dan Rosenfeld
MBA 1979

Post a Comment

Featured Alumni

Dan Rosenfeld
MBA 1979

Related Stories

    • 01 Sep 2009
    • Alumni Stories

    Home Sweet Home

    Re: Ron Terwilliger (MBA 1970)
    • 25 Feb 2013
    • Harvard Gazette

    Among millions, a blank slate

    By: John D. Macomber Professors Tarun Khanna
    • 01 Mar 2010
    • Alumni Stories

    Slum for Sale

    By: Julia Hanna
    • 22 Nov 2010
    • VentureBeat

    The World's Smartest Startup

    Re: Zia Yusuf (MBA 1998)

More Related Stories

Stories Featuring Dan Rosenfeld

    • 15 Mar 2015
    • Los Angeles Times

    An Urban Planner Gives the Lowdown on LA

    Re: Dan Rosenfeld (MBA 1979)
 
 
 
 
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
ǁ
Campus Map
External Relations
Harvard Business School
Teele Hall
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
Phone: 1.617.495.6890
Email: alumni+hbs.edu
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College