Built Up

“Built Up reminds the real estate industry that the foundations of its private development activities were very concerned with creating public space and amenities for the benefit of the communities as well as the financial success of their buildings. I know our young professionals in Project Destined will be inspired and encouraged in achieving more equitable outcomes.” –Cedric Bobo, Co-Founder, Project Destined

“Real estate development, we like to believe, is a greedy affair. Patrice Derrington argues that it doesn’t have to be that way, proposing a model that takes into account values beyond the immediate financial gains. Built Up is an indispensable book for anyone interested in what drives the production of our built environment and a much-needed theoretical framework to overturn ‘business as usual.’” –Reinier de Graaf, Partner, Office for Metropolitan Architecture

“Built Up has given me a lot of inspiration for my upcoming projects.” –Daryl Ng, Deputy Chairman, Sino Group

“We shape our built environment, and it then shapes us. Shaping our built environment is the work of real estate developers. Great spaces are not defined by ordinary folk. Patrice Derrington tells many vivid tales as she helps us understand our cities and ourselves. This is the rare book that is both deeply incisive and great fun.” –Larry Summers, President Emeritus, Harvard University

“Twenty-first-century real estate development often devolves into a painful clash of wills between entrepreneurs and the public realm. In her magnum opus, Built Up, Patrice Derrington gives this vital sector a history, starting with the ancient Greeks and proceeding in depth through the origins of speculative development in seventeenth-century England. Even in distant times, real estate developers were colorful characters. With this sure to be influential text, current land use struggles are reframed and alternatives for re-imagining them posited. Derrington shows us how the practice of real estate in the past can point to new approaches going forward.” –Mary Ann Tighe, CEO, NY Tri-State Region CBRE

“…[F]ills an academic gap…[and]…provides guidance for dismantling and improving current practice—a boon for both students and professionals involved in the creation of the built environment.” –Architectural Record

With over fifteen years of real estate experience, Patrice Derrington is currently the Holliday Associate Professor and Director of the Real Estate Development program at Columbia University. Patrice’s academic credentials include a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley, Harvard MBA, and B. Arch, University of Queensland, in addition to teaching awards, publications, and notable contributions to research. In her industry experience on Wall Street, she worked as an investment banker, advisor, and fund manager to major individual and institutional clients such as David Rockefeller, Keybank, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. She is also a registered architect and has led numerous urban development projects in the USA and Australia.