Ben Schulman is an urbanist. For over 15 years, he's been crafting - and implementing - design, development, creative capital and communications strategies that unlock the power of place. His work has been delivered across the academic, arts, culture, non-profit, and private sectors to foster connections between people, place, culture, and the built environment.
Ben's writing has been published in ARCHITECT, CityLab, ICON, Metropolis, and New Geography, among other outlets, and he was the editor of Chicago Architect magazine and Newcity's Design section. As the Director of Communications for the Congress for the New Urbanism and AIA Chicago, Ben communicated the value, impact, and benefit of good urban design before moving on to help launch the real estate equity crowdfunding platform, Small Change, and to lead the real estate, planning, and placemaking portfolio as Vice President of the community development organization, the Memphis Medical District Collaborative (MMDC).
At MMDC, working with design, philanthropic and CDFI partners, Ben led the publication of an architectural form book for the production of infill housing and managed a suite of financing tools that have catalyzed more than $500M in planned and/or completed development. He is currently a Director with a5 Branding & Digital, a Chicago-based media, design and communications firm focused on creating healthy and sustainable communities.
Ben has lectured at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, and taught at the University of Memphis. He has spoken at untold conferences and been recognized as both a Good Work Institute and Next City Vanguard Fellow. He is the former Board President of BLDG Memphis, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Community LIFT and the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation.