Constructing Consensus through Collaboration: Stakeholder Management in Real Estate [Module 1]

“It takes a village” to develop a real estate project is more than just a clever catch-phrase. In any city around the world, assembling and working with the people who can make or break a real estate project, especially the ones that look perfect on paper, is a crucial tactical and strategic skill. From advocacy groups, to the public at large, to community groups, to elected officials, fostering thoughtful relationships with these individuals and groups is critical to the success of any real estate project. Using real world examples that highlight the importance of stakeholder engagement, this course will focus on teaching students how bringing people along can be the key to getting hard projects done.

After completing this course, students will be able to determine which elected officials, community members/groups, and advocacy groups can impact a real estate project positively or negatively. Students will be able to craft public relations and government relations strategies for interfacing with those key stakeholders in order to support real estate projects or defend against criticism. Students will also know which experts and consultants to partner with to add to their own capabilities. Students will be able to build well rounded project teams that can accomplish the most difficult projects and weather the most challenging storms.

The first day of classes, Tuesday, September 3rd, is held as a MONDAY schedule at the GSD. As this course meets on Tuesday, the first meeting of this course will be on Tuesday, September 10th. It will meet regularly thereafter. 

MRE students have prioritized enrollment in the Limited Enrollment Course Lottery. All MRE students who select this special MRE elective in the Lottery will be enrolled, with additional seats potentially available to other students.