Lance Robbins

Lance Robbins, Urban Smart Growth's (USG) CEO and founder, passed away. He was 76.


Lance founded USG in 2004 after first rehabilitating over 6,000 distressed inner city apartment units in Los Angeles. Over the next 20 years at USG, he dedicated himself to enhancing communities in order to breathe life back into old worlds. Whether it was a factory, school, warehouse or other complex, he thrived by bringing new opportunities to these structures so that they were able to flourish once again under new operations.


His goal for the company was to achieve a unique sense of community and expand the range of transportation, employment, and housing choices while preserving and enhancing natural and cultural resources. Thanks to his steadfast dedication to this mission, USG expanded coast-to-coast with properties in 13 cities in eight states.


Lance created a family wherever he went and had friends and loved ones all over the world. He was a community builder in life and in work, as his motto was "good community is good business." Lance was known for his vast charitable work including mental health advocacy, criminal justice reform and caring for people recovering from substance abuse. He was also a passionate advocate on the prevention of human trafficking.


A native of Los Angeles, Lance was a graduate of UCLA and Berkeley Law. At Berkeley, Lance endowed a chair to specifically focus on social justice and countering drug addiction.


He is survived by his three children: Becka, Zack and Alexa.


The USG team is dedicated to continuing Lance's vision and future for the company moving forward.

Donations in Lance’s memory can be made to the following organizations that he was passionate about:

The ULI Foundation exists to advance the mission of the Urban Land Institute: shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. Communities are facing some of the most pressing land use challenges of our time – climate change, attainable housing shortages and a lack of restorative infrastructure investments. ULI is working toward innovative, operational and sustainable solutions.

The Berkeley Law Criminal Law & Justice Center Fund advances Berkeley Law’s public mission, striving to transform the criminal legal system by centering the lived experience of communities most directly affected.

The mission of The Teen Project is to provide a full life transformation to prior foster and at-risk young women who have survived human trafficking and homelessness, by providing sobriety, psychotherapy and a life sustaining higher education.

MARICI is a non-profit organization that goes undercover into child sex trafficking networks to shut them down and liberate survivors. MARICI heals rescued children from their trauma and empower them to discover their potential.

Founder and Visionary of Urban Smart Growth