Editor's statement.

Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould loved to write and lecture on the themes of diversity and adaptation in the natural world. These qualities characterize our economic world, and the place of real estate, just as fundamentally as they do the biological world. Probably this is true for many of the same reasons, for humans interact on many of the same principles of selectivity as do our companions of other species on this planet. We seek to survive, to pass on the best of ourselves, to seek habitats that are sustainable and sustaining, and to congregate both for protection arid because social interaction promotes our evolutionary progress.

As Gould's academic home, Harvard was then a very appropriate locale for the September 2002 conference, Global Cities in an Era of Change. This three-day event was a notable collaboration among The Counselors of Real Estate, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Much of the value of the conference, of course, derived from the interaction of the participants on the scene, both during the formal sessions and in the many opportunities for "sidebar" conversations at meals and breaks. But certainly the content of the program itself was quite exceptional, rewarding those able to attend.

To make selected conference content available to a wider audience, and to expand the conference's theme through a series of related essays, Real Estate Issues and the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management committed to producing this special joint issue. Through a series of articles--some quantitative and others conceptual; some focused on particular cities and others thematic in scope--we look at urban economic and real estate issues around the world at the start of 2003. The world is becoming progressively more urbanized and, in the cliche, this presents both challenges and opportunities. Global cities, those conurbations at the top of the world economic hierarchy, are increasingly important as portals where the world's economic, social, and cultural diversity connect. Not coincidentally, such cities are also the places where real estate is developed most intensely and valued most highly. Real estate development also is a powerful force shaping the physical dimensions of cities, as it serves its funct ion of housing economic activity.

A distinguished group of scholars and practitioners offer you their ideas in this special joint issue. They are an excellent example of a fruitful duality that Professor Gould aptly expressed as "richness in particularity and potential union in underlying explanation." We commend their efforts for your thoughtful consideration and application.

Hugh F. Kelly, CRE

Editor-in-Chief

Real Estate issues