The Urban Construction Laboratory (UCL) was founded in May 1989 by Richard Bender and John J. Parman as a vehicle for their research interests.

UCL Director John J. Parman, M.Arch. was a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley (2018-2023) and Editorial Director and Senior Advisor at Gensler (1997-2019). He and UC Berkeley Professor Richard Bender were research collaborators for 50 years.