Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues.

It was good that the lunch keynote didn’t last any longer; I was ready to hand Jim Abdo a check. Those of us on the academic side of the development industry aren’t used to such raw displays of enthusiasm. After following Abdo through his slide presentation on the history of his business and the mammoth project he’s begun on New York Avenue near the National Arboretum, I was prepared to elect him something or buy a condo.

On Friday, the Urban Land Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating idea exchange between real estate professionals in the public and private sector, hosted its first Urban Marketplace event in the District. About a thousand people were in attendance, from developers and bankers, to government officials and neighborhood representatives, to academic researchers and lowly bloggers.

It’s good to be around people who approach one’s area of interest from different angles. It provides an opportunity to re-examine beliefs and improve them or change them, and it allows one to learn new things. It was nice to see that after spending the past two years covering the subject of local development, the topic still has the capacity to surprise me. Here are just a few of the things that caught my attention on Friday and unexpectedly held it.

Photo by picture prefect.