How real estate can boost sustainable urbanisation

Real estate has a fundamental role to play in building resilient cities of the future and realising the opportunities that urbanisation offers, according to industry experts. At a MIPIM panel session chaired by DWF real estate partner Melanie Williams, panellists discussed how property can harness that potential, as well as the challenges that the built environment must tackle to ensure a better future for cities and their people. Christine Auclair, coordinator of the World Urban Campaign at UN-Habitat, says urbanisation offers real estate a “tremendous” global opportunity. UN-Habitat predicts that the world’s urban population will grow by 2.5bn by 2050, meaning at least 1bn homes must be built by then. That excludes the number required to replace ageing stock. Real estate will have to be “extremely innovative” to unlock that potential, says Auclair. Urban governance systems and regulatory frameworks will need to be up to the task. Among the challenges to overcome are higher insurance premiums, stricter building codes and utilising renewable energy sources and water-efficient technologies, while addressing inclusivity and consumer demands. “From the UN’s perspective, cities are places of acceleration,” adds Auclair. She says that UN-Habitat is starting to engage with private sector companies, and that “there are a lot of opportunities to work together”. Cross-sector collaboration is vital, adds Julian Josephs, past world president of real estate federation FIABCI. “It can’t be one organisation,” he says. “We all have to work together and recognise that. We each have our seats at the table with our own members, but together we have to move forward. It’s a team.” Planning crisis-proof cities Building resilience against crises – both potential and ongoing – is crucial to support cities and crisis-driven migration. There have been 7,400 disasters in the past two decades, according to Auclair – nearly twice the number recorded in the preceding 20 years, and costing the world almost $3tn (£2.5tn). Additionally, climate migration is expected to soar. “Working with the private sector and real estate is essential,” she says. Susan Greenfield, world president of FIABCI, says: “With the current environment and the rebuilding of Turkey and Syria, we have to be thinking about resilience and sustainability, and concern for the future of this community and every community with earthquakes.” She adds that built environment federations such as FIABCI are able to contribute knowledge and experience to support the UN’s goal to ensure that cities are “productive and inclusive”. For Auclair, effective urban planning is the starting point. She emphasises that real estate needs to get better at looking at the big picture, rather than projects in isolation. “It’s really important to build synergies between different sectors… to stop working in silos and create platforms for interaction and integration,” she says. Sue Bridge, president of the Royal Town Planning Institute, says that, in the UK, planners are “uniquely placed” to work collaboratively across all of the built environment disciplines. However, there is a resourcing problem. “We need more planners, skills and awareness of the issues that we face,” she says. Calls for a clear road map to net zero Bridge says that while the UK government is focusing on the levelling-up agenda, which includes measures to improve urban regeneration, it is not looking at the existing built environment and adaptation for climate change. She adds that planners will not be able to act with maximum efficacy until the government publishes its road map to meet its net zero target by 2050. “We are all awaiting that,” says Bridge. “Until we see how the government is going to get there and what we have to do to achieve those goals in a properly structured way, it’s going to be very difficult for us as planners to drive the change that is necessary.” For Bridge, the profession needs more evidence, research and horizon scanning, especially when it comes to handling climate migration. “There are things that need to be done,” she says. “What does [the refugee crisis] mean for our new homes? How many do we have to build to accommodate that? Because with… the climate emergency, people are going to want to leave those areas that are in trouble.” The RTPI will work closely with the UN to formulate a road map for achieving its sustainable development goals, says Bridge, although hitting those targets is unlikely. “I accept that we are probably not going to meet them, but we need to find a way of doing that,” she says. Auclair says those SDGs must translate “at city level”, adding that, as well as national governments and the private sector, real estate “needs to embrace those goals” and build those values into business cases. “It’s also about connecting to all of those development goals and using the same language as governments, to convince them,” she says. “That is essential for their own future.” Educating real estate Education forms another piece of the puzzle. Josephs, who also teaches the global real estate transactions graduate course at Georgetown University in Washington DC, notes that graduates are mindful of their responsibility to increase awareness about making a positive climate impact. They are also demonstrating a willingness to do that. That education must also extend to senior professionals, says Greenfield. “Young people… are learning everything,” she says. “But what about people who have been around a long time, and experienced people like myself, for example? We have to be educated, too. It’s just not going to work if we don’t learn as well.” For Bridge, education is essential, but can only go so far without wider legislative changes being brought in. “It is absolutely essential that education covers all of these issues, and I’m seeing from our young planners coming through the system now that it is at the forefront of their minds,” she says. “However, that is not enough. We need proper legislation to drive it through, because we need a level playing field across the whole of the industry for everybody to work off a common platform, and that can only be done through legislation.” In partnership with To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@eg.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @EGPropertyNews Photo © Chuttersnap/Unsplash