The pandemic presents a unique opportunity to level up the built environment

COMMENT Covid-19 has been, by all accounts, a tragedy of catastrophic proportions. Beyond the widespread loss of life, it’s kept friends and families apart, restricted our autonomy, and disrupted normal patterns of life. However, it has also presented an opportunity to change how we manage the built environment for the better. Much ink has been spilled about the formation of a “new normal”, with both positive and pejorative connotations. By concentrating our efforts, we can adopt a progressive mindset when it comes to tackling some of the problems we inherited from before the pandemic. One fact that has become obvious over the past year is that our urban spaces, in which almost 85% of the UK’s population live, according to the World Bank, are rarely designed with residents in mind. The experience of working from home prompted large numbers of urban residents to consider moving to more rural locations – with Rightmove reporting a 126% increase in people considering village sites. If one of the only factors tethering populations to urban areas is work, it raises the question of what can be done to make our towns and cities more attractive places to reside? Urban planning Perhaps the most natural response to urban-rural flight is to address our cities’ environmental impact and make them greener places in which to live. The UN suggests that, globally, cities consume 78% of the world’s total energy and produce more than 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings alone account for 36% of Europe’s carbon emissions, according to the European Commission. Proliferating and maintaining green spaces in urban areas provides an immediate boost to residents’ wellbeing, with a study from sustainability consulting firm Terrapin Bright Green having demonstrated tangible improvements in mental health, blood pressure and stress. Yet, naturally, more needs to be done to address the root causes of polluting cities. Measuring impact with data A key requirement is data. Policymakers and regulatory bodies should aim to use whole lifecycle assessment to better understand the impact that buildings have across their entire lifecycle, not just in operational use. Failure to do so can mean overlooking up to 40% of a building’s total emissions, according to research published by the UK Green Building Council. But with this knowledge, buildings also need to be constructed to more exacting specifications. The continual refining of modular construction technology allows homes to be built to far better environmental standards. Now the challenge remains to use sustainable materials to reduce the impact across the useful life of a building. Doing so will be key not only to creating greener cities, but for meeting the high-level targets set out by the UK government of reducing emissions by 78% by 2035 compared with 1990 levels. Yet, as is often overlooked, environment is just one-third of the ESG trinity. By repositioning the human at the centre of the built environment, it’s possible to create cities that enable their citizens to live healthier, happier lives. Developments that incorporate cultural infrastructure and public art into their designs, a theme that ULI UK explored in our Urban Art Forum report, can have a meaningful quantitative impact on respondents’ wellbeing. Measuring and benchmarking the social performance of a building needs to be a metric that  is considered on a par with commercial performance. Key to creating radical change will be collaboration, connecting finance to innovators in the built environment. Much as those designing the cities of the future need the capital to realise their vision, institutional capital is similarly dependent on ethically sound investments in order to bolster their ESG credentials, which are rising in importance. Technology provides one clear magnet for sustainable investment. Innovation is often a driver of growth, and when new inventions are employed to create social good – such as Skyports’ drones being used to help transport Covid-19 test samples and medical materials between NHS medical facilities – it’s a win-win for investors. At its core, ULI provides leadership in the responsible use of land. We’re in a unique position to be able to set the standards of excellence in development practice, so it’s important to use this influence to effect meaningful and positive change. Events such as the ULI UK annual conference, which takes place this year on 10 June, are key to providing platforms that facilitate the conversations that will create the winds of change. The pandemic presents a unique opportunity to re-think and restructure our urban spaces. Let’s not miss the chance. Vanessa Hale is global governing trustee and chair at the Urban Land Institute UK Photo: Pexels