Dr. Robert Bullard Receives ULI’s Highest Honor for Visionary Work in Environmental Justice

The Urban Land Institute has awarded Dr. Robert D. Bullard the 2024 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. This global honor recognizes his lifetime of research, teaching, and advocacy focused on how race and income shape access to clean air, safe housing, and climate protection.

The award was presented during the 2024 ULI Fall Meeting in Las Vegas. It includes a $100,000 prize and is one of the highest honors in land use and urban development.

Dr. Bullard has spent more than four decades documenting how systemic racism and policy failures leave Black and low-income communities overexposed to pollution and under-protected from disaster. His work forced governments, planners, and developers to confront how environmental harm and disinvestment are often rooted in discriminatory land use decisions.

In 1990, his book Dumping in Dixie made the case that environmental justice is not a side issue. It is central to how cities grow and who benefits. That book helped shape a national movement. Since then, he has published 18 more books and trained generations of leaders at institutions across the country.

At Texas Southern University, Dr. Bullard founded the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice. He continues to serve as director and as a distinguished professor.

His public service record includes:

* National Black Environmental Justice Network (NEBJE) co-founder

* Served on White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC)

* 2024 TIME Earth Award

* 2020 United Nations Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award

The ULI Prize reflects a broader shift in how the development sector sees its role. Equity, once an afterthought, is now a front-line concern. Dr. Bullard’s leadership helped make that possible.

Read Dr. Bullard’s interview with Urban Land magazine: https://urbanland.uli.org/design-planning/awards/ul-interview-dr-robert-d-bullard