Professor of Urban Planning
Professor of Natural Resources
Senior Fellow, Office of the Associate Vice-President for Economic Development
520-349-8090
Email: gpivo@U.Arizona.EDU
Dr. Gary Pivo works in the areas of responsible property investing, land use planning, growth management, and sustainable cities. He is currently Advisor to the Property Working Group of the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative and the Responsible Property Investing Center . At the University of Arizona, he holds professorships in the Planning Degree Program and the School of Natural Resources and is a Senior Fellow with the Office of Economic Development. Dr. Pivo teaches courses on the land development process and environmental land use planning.
Previouly, Dr. Pivo hasserved as Dean of the Graduate College, Director of Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs and Associate Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Arizona. He has also served as Chair of the Department of Urban Design and Planning, Director of the Center for Sustainable Cities, and Director of the Interdisciplinary Group for the PhD in Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington.
Professor Pivo has published extensively on responsible property investing, suburban centers, less auto dependent urban form, and sustainable urbanization. His research has been widely cited in scientific journals, text books, professional reports and government studies. His studies of office suburbanization, how urban form shapes travel behavior, and responsible property investing are some of the most widely cited research in these areas.
Dr. Pivo has been invited to speak at meetings convened by leading organizations and institutions including the United Nations, BOMA Intl., the US and World Green Building Councils, the National Science Foundation, the National Building Museum, the Urban Land Institute, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He was one of a small group of US land use experts invited to advise the People's Republic of China on urban development and farm land conservation.
Dr. Pivo's comments on urban planning have been carried by The Economist, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio and dozens of other local and national publications. He has an extensive record of consulting and public service including work as the Special Assistant to the Governor’s Growth Strategy Commission (Washington), Co-Founder and President of 1000 Friends of Washington and Co-Founder of the Responsible Property Investing Center. Dr. Pivo is an alumnus of the U.S. Presidential Management Internship Program and holds a B.A. in Social Ecology from the University of California, Irvine, a Master’s in Regional Planning from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from U.C., Berkeley.
Selected Publications and Other Resources
Responsible Property Investing - Responsible Property Investing (RPI) lies at the nexus of real estate investing, corporate social responsiblity, and socially responsible investing. In a July 5, 2006 article, TheWall Street Journal dubbed it “real estate’s latest movement.” It includes strategies, such as urban reinvestment or energy conservation, that produce social and environmental benefits while also generating market rates of return. Participating investors, which together hold more than $100 billion in real estate, include Caisse des Depots, CalPERS, Kennedy Real Estate Counsel, Calvert, Domini, Prudential, Morley, Hermes, Lend Lease, Cherokee, Melaver, Land Securities and others. RPI has its own international on-line discussion list, its been covered in The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor and responsible investing websites, academic papers have addressed it, and meetings have examined it hosted by the Principles for Responsible Investing, UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, the Real Estate Roundtable, SRI in the Rockies, and the Boston College Institute for Responsible Investing (IRI) in collaboration with the University of Arizona (UA). The UNEP Finance Initiative has created a worldwide Property Working Group and the IRI has published the proceedings of its meeting and launched the Responsible Property Investing Project.
To join an on-line discussion list on RPI with over 500 members from 11 countries, send email to listserv@listserv.arizona.edu with the following as the only line in the body of the message: subscribe rpi [Firstname] [Lastname] and substitute your first name for [Firstname] and your last name for [Lastname].
Responsible Property Investing
Introduction to RPI
Responsible Property Investing. A briefing paper for the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment process. The related powerpoint presentation.
Is There a Future for Socially Responsible Property Investments? An earlier, shorter version: A Call for the Creation of Socially Responsible Real Estate Investment Products.
Doing Good-- and Doing Well. A brief review of RPI published in Urban Land, June 2007.
RPI Metrics
RPI Criteria Developed using the Delphi Method. A group process that used the Delphi method to prioritize the criteria that should be used in the triple bottom line evaluation of property investments. The related powerpoint.
Social and Environmental Metrics for US Real Estate Portfolios: Sources of Data and Aggregation Methods. A followup to the Delphi paper that gives specific help to analysts wanting to evaluate properties and portfolios.
RPI Economics
The Promising Economics of Green Development Are Creating New Investment Opportunities. An article that synthesizes literature on the economics of green building.
What Do We Know? Research on the Economic Viability of RPI Strategies. See the article in this issue of RPI Quarterly.
FORTHCOMING! Investment Returns from RPI: Energy Efficient, Transit Oriented, and Urban Regeneration Properties in the US from 1997-2007. Watch for this new study being done with Indiana University Professor Jeffrey D. Fisher based on financial data provided by the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries. It should be available by September, 2008.
RPI Conferences
Real Estate and Socially Responsible Investment: New Products, New Investments, New Value. The first ever meeting on the topic held in Tucson, 2006.
2nd Annual RPI Forum, New Orlean, 2007.
3rd Annual RPI Forum: Growing the Field. See the article in this issue of the RPI Quarterly.
RPI Opinion Survey
Exploring Responsible Property Investing: A Survey of American Executives. This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. Copyright (2007) John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The European Research Press Ltd. This is the full length article describing the 2007 survey that was co-sponsored by BOMA, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, the Real Estate Roundtable and the Urban Land Insitute. An Executive Summary of the results including a forward by Geoffrey Dohrmann, President and CEO of Institutional Real Estate, Inc. is available under the title: Responsible Property Investing: A Survey of American Executives.
RPI in Practice
NEW! Responsible Property Investing: What the Leaders are Doing. This 93 page report published in 2008 by the UNEP Finance Initiative Property Working Group gives case studies of RPI in practice all around the world. A short CEO Briefing was published in 2007 by UNEP FI and you can view the related slide show. The CEO Briefing is also available in a more academic version that includes complete references from the Journal of Property Investment and Finance.
NEW! Building Responsible Property Portfolios: A review of current practice by UNEP FI and PRI signatories. A 2008 report focused on RPI management strategies used by signatories of the Principles for Responsible Investing.
Powerpoint Presentations
BOMA, UNEP FI, RPIC, NCREIF, RPI in 2007, Green Buildings: Evidence for Investors. SRI in the Rockies, 2005
Presentations made at SRI in the Rockies 2004 session Responsible Property Investing: Is There a Green REIT In Our Future?
Gary Pivo, University of Arizona
Leanne Tobias, Malachite LLC
Richard Imperiale, Uniplan Forward Fund
Selected Media Coverage of RPI
Wanted: Socially Responsible Real Estate. Good Deeds, Real Estate and You. Socially Responsible Property Investment Still on the Drafting Table. Read these internet new reports about Pivo's research and related activities.
Socially Responsible (Property) Investing Comes of Age. Article by Neil Bo from Commercial Mortgage Insight, December 2007.
The REIT Stuff. Download this podcast of Dr. Pivo's interview on the July 19, 2006 broadcast of Corporate Watchdog Radio, hosted by Sanford Lewis and Bill Baue. Look for Show 20 on their website.
Real Estate's Latest Movement. An article on Responsible Property Investing from the Wall Street Journal.
Urban Form and Travel Behavior
Impacts of Mixed Use and Density on Utilization of Three Modes of Travel: Single-Occupant Vehicle, Transit, and Walking. This widely cited study explores how land use mixing and density affect walking, transit use and driving alone.
Relationships Between Land Use and Travel Behavior in the Puget Sound Region. This study tests the relationships between land use density, mix, jobs-housing balance, and travel behavior at the census tract level for work and shopping trips.
Land Use Trends Affecting Auto Dependence in Washington's Metropolitan Areas. An examination of where and to waht extent the urban land market produced less auto-dpendent urban growth from 1970-1990.
Office Location and Urban Spatial Structure
The Net of Mixed Beads. Suburban Office Development in Six Metropolitan Regions. Examines trends in suburban office location patterns including clusters, corridors, and scatteration.
A Taxonomy of Suburban Office Clusters: The Case of Toronto. Explore the different types of suburban office clusters along with their impacts on transportation and their physical characteristics.
Growth Management and Land Use Policy
Patient Capital and School Trust Real Estate Programs. This paper examines how school trusts that sell land for urban development may financially benefit by being patient and holding land for the longer term rather than selling it for shorter term gains
.Local Government Planning Tools - Executive Summary. Complete findings from a national survey of the tools being used as well as their purposes and effectiveness.
Taking Stock of Growth Management in the U.S. Briefly reported preliminary results of a nationwide survey on the use and effectiveness of growth management tools and land use controls.
A Snug but Fairly Comfortable Fit: the Concept of a Growth Boundary. An article from the Seattle Times, explaining the value of a growth boundary for the Puget Sound region.
Is the Growth Management Act Working? A Survey of Resource Lands and Critical Areas Development Regulations. This paper provides is one of the first empirical evalautions of the effectiveness of the Washington State Growth Management Act.
Preface and Supreme Court Brief of the American Planning Association in Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council. This amicus brief explores the question of what constitutes adequate discussion of mitigation measures in an environmental impact statement. For the original brief see Amicus Brief of the American Planning Association, US Supreme Court, October Term, 1988, No. 87-1703.
Regional Efforts to Achieve Sustainability in Seattle: Skinny Latte or Double Fat Mocha? An examination of efforts to implement growth management in the Puget Sound region.
Fair and Balanced Approaches to Resolving the Property Rights Issue. Various policies and techniques in response to the movement that would require compensation for land use controls that affect property values.
Land Use Issues in the USA's Pacific Northwest. The results of a conference sponsored by the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.
The Arrival of Performance Based Growth Management. A brief article from Urban Land about an outcome oriented approach to growth management.
Graduate Education (Dr. Pivo served as the Dean of UA's Graduate College from 1998-2003)
Considerations in the Decision to Apply for Graduate Studies. Based upon a survey of applicants to the University of Arizona, see what factors are most important and how they differ across gender, race, and type of degree.
Minds, Migration and Matriculation. The role of graduate education in the new Arizona economy.
Sustainable Cities; Land Use and Urban Form
Creating Compact and Complete Communities: Seven Propositions for Success. A case study of one of the most compact and complete communities in the Pacific Northwest.
Toward Sustainable Urbanization on Mainstreet Cascadia. What is sustainable urbanization? The six "C's" of sustainable urbanization. How do urban growth patterns compare to its principles? Model cities and public acceptability of new urban forms.
The Six C's of Sustainable Urbanization. A shorter version of the previous article, as published in The Seattle Times.
How Do You Implement Less Auto Dependent and More Transit Oriented Urban Form? This report offers a general theory and case study that can help planners and their communties create more transit and pedestrian friendly cities and suburbs.
Learning from Truckers: Truck Drivers' Views on the Planning and Design of Urban and Suburban Centers. If cities are to become more compact, how will trucks fit in? Read this article to learn what the drivers themselves have to say.
Small Towns, Rural Areas, Urban Sprawl
Rural Cluster Zoning: Survey and Guidelines This article offers practical guidelines for using cluster zoning to permit development in rural areas that is compatible with rural character, farming, and ranching. It has been used as the basis for several local government ordinances and state guidelines.
How Do You Define Community Character? This article helps communities, especially small towns and rural areas, understand how urban growth can affect small town and rural character. It offers a method for analyzing and mitigating impacts on community character and gives an example of its application in a real world setting.
Land Use Planning Theory
Use Value, Exchange Value, and the Need for Public Land-Use Planning.Why should the government be in the business of influencing how our society uses urban and rural land? This paper critiques the market approach to determining land use patterns and builds a rationale for contemporary urban planning.
Citations to Publications
Citations List : Find books, articles, and reports by other authors that cite Pivo's publications.
Course Syllabi
UN PWG Private Access
This site is maintained by gpivo@u.arizona.edu.