Real Estate and the Built Environment Major

Program Director: Maria Day-Marshall, J.D., LL.M

The major in Real Estate and the Built Environment expands the traditional, narrowly focused, business approach to real estate, finance, investment and management, providing students with broad perspectives that come from the multitude of disciplines that make up the modern practice of real estate. From construction methods and materials to politics and public policy, and from urban planning and design, to transportation, to building and landscape architecture, modern real estate development is a multi-disciplinary practice. The major offers a set of required courses to introduce students to the complexity of real estate and the built environment practice, as well electives in the affiliated fields that impact the Built Environment. The focus is on transformational real estate practice, addressing issues posed by individual and collective decisions about the built environment ranging from social and environmental justice, to climate change, to community identity and heritage.

Program Learning Outcomes

  1. Core Concepts of the Real Estate Development Process: Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the core concepts of the real estate development process including its principles, practice and participants. They will demonstrate their basic knowledge of how developers create value by making tangible improvements to real property.
  2. Fundamental Legal and Financial Real Estate Concepts: Students will demonstrate their knowledge of real estate financial concepts necessary to read and employ financial statements, income and revenue reports of properties and portfolios, and the ability to explain and undertake a basic real estate pro forma. Students will also demonstrate their knowledge of real estate legal concepts necessary to read and understand legal documents related to real estate.
  3. Affiliated Fields Contributing to or Impacting the Built Environment: Students will demonstrate their knowledge of fundamental concepts and terminology necessary to interact and engage the wide variety of fields and professions necessary for successful real estate development. Those fields include architecture, planning, law, construction, public policy and engagement as well as the issues of environmental impacts and sustainability.
  4. Professional Skills: Students will demonstrate professional skills as indicated by an ability to: produce effective visual (typically Power Point) presentations, prepare effective documents in business writing style, and undertake effective oral presentation and persuasive communication.
Course Title Credits
Core Required Courses15
People, Planet, and Profit: Building Sustainable Places
Real Estate Development: Introduction to Principles, Process, and Practice
Legal Foundations of Real Estate (Legal Foundations of Real Estate)
Principles, Process and Politics of Planning for Real Estate Development (Principles, Process and Politics of Planning for Real Estate Development)
Foundations of Real Estate Finance and Investment
Cognate Required Courses
Select one of the following finance related courses:2-3
Tax and Accounting for Real Estate Development
Foundations of Accounting for Non Business Majors
Select one of the following architecture/design related courses:3
RDEV440
(Principles of Urban Design for Real Estate Professionals)
Essentials of Architectural Design and Construction Management for Real Estate Professionals (Essentials of Architectural Design and Construction Management for Real Estate Professionals)
Design in Practice
Select one of the following historic preservation courses:3
The Everyday and the American Environment
HISP205
(American Idols: Introducing Historic Preservation)
Select one of the following urban planning courses:3
The Sustainable City: Exploring Opportunities and Challanges
Diversity and the City
Culmination Required Courses
Select three to four credits from among the following courses: 13-4
RDEV470
(Real Estate Case Studies)
RDEV471
( Real Estate Literature)
RDEV472
(Real Estate Critical Issues)
Real Estate Case Study Competition (Real Estate Case Study Competition)
Special Topics in Real Property Development
Electives
Select three of the following courses: 29
Any Cognate Course not otherwise taken to meet the REBE Cognate Credit Requirements
Public Policy and the Black Community
Sustainability
Material Aspects of American Life
AMST207
Houses, Schools, and Prisons in American Life
Design Thinking and Architecture
Elements and Principles of Architecture
History of World Architecture I
History of World Architecture II
History of American Architecture
History of Contemporary Architecture
Financial Statement Analysis
Foundations of Financial Management for Non Business Majors
Marketing Principles and Organization
Marketing and Innovation for Entrepreneurs
Banking and Financial Institutions
Entrepreneurship
Argumentation and Public Policy
Influence
Negotiation and Conflict Management
Principles of Microeconomics
Urban & Regional Economics: Issues and Policies
Introduction to Construction Project Management
Selection and Utilization of Construction Equipment
Legal Aspects of Architectural and Engineering Practice
Project Cost Accounting and Economics
Introduction to Environmental Law
Water: Science, Ethics, and Policy
GVPT260
Introduction to Environmental Politics
Civil Discourse or Urban Riot: Why Cities Don't (Often) Explode
Green Infrastructure and Community Greening
People and the Environment
Environmental Justice, Racism, and Environmental Health Disparities: How where you live can kill you
The Built Environment, Sustainability, and Public Health: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Public Health in the City: Perspectives on Health in the Urban Environment
Innovation and Social Change: Creating Change for Good
PLCY312
Advocacy in the American Political System
Summer Study Abroad courses as appropriate
Other courses related to Real Estate and the Built Environment as may be approved by the program director
1

Credits required depends on whether a student took RDEV270 (3 credits), or BMGT210 (2 credits)

2

Some courses have prerequisites that a REBE student may have met or not; seats in electives are not assured for REBE students.

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