Something completely changed the way I evaluate a project.
And it didn't happen in front of a blueprint.
Or while reviewing a market study.
It happened while walking cities.
For years I did what most of us probably do when we analyze an opportunity.
I started with the plot.
I'd review its zoning, its buildable area, its price and its returns.
Until one day I realized I was starting the analysis in the wrong place.
Because before a plot of land exists to develop...
A city already existed.
And that city was already telling us whether that project had any real chance of creating value.
Since then I've changed the order in which I look at an opportunity.
Today, before looking at the plot, I always try to understand five things.
1. How people live in that place.
I don't start by looking at buildings.
I start by watching people.
How do they move?
Where do they shop?
Where do they stop?
Where do they talk?
Where do they spend the most time?
Because cities always talk.
You just have to learn to watch them.
2. What activities keep the city alive during the day.
A good project doesn't create life on its own.
It powers it.
That's why I look for whether there's a natural mix of housing, retail, offices, education, services and public space.
When those activities work together, value usually starts to appear too.
3. How that place connects to the rest of the city.
I'm not just interested in whether there's a major avenue nearby.
I'm interested in understanding how people actually get there.
Walking.
By public transit.
By bike.
By car.
Accessibility is never a minor detail.
It often ends up being one of a project's main competitive advantages.
4. What signals show that a place is starting to transform.
The best projects almost never show up once the market has already discovered an area.
They show up when its dynamics start to change.
New infrastructure.
More commercial activity.
Changes in mobility patterns.
New services.
People staying longer.
Those signals usually appear long before the headlines do.
5. Whether the project will help build a better city.
This is the question that has changed my thinking the most.
For years we learned to ask what we could build inside the plot.
Today I think we should first ask what city we'll help build outside of it.
Because a project's real value doesn't depend only on its architecture.
It also depends on the city people will find the moment they step through its door.
I'm more and more convinced that the future of urban development won't belong only to those who design better buildings.
It will belong to those who learn to read cities better.
Because the best opportunities rarely start inside a plot of land.
They start much earlier.
They start in the surroundings that most people overlook.
This is exactly the kind of analysis I apply in strategic consulting for mixed-use projects and urban development.
And I'm curious to know how you see it.
When you visit a plot of land for the first time, what do you look at before making a decision... and why?
