As concerns about the sustainability of the world’s love affair with the car and airplane grow, the European Union aims to put more people back on trains, a strategy that will require not only laying new tracks but refurbishing old stations. From Barcelona to Vilnius, some of these developments aim not only to make public transportation more convenient but to renew the quarter in which they are located.
Experts speaking in December at a panel discussion at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai pointed to two ways in which the industry is already improving its environmental performance: first, by renovating more, and second, by using building materials with more recycled content.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that the industry needs to increase the number of renovations by a factor of 5 to 10 to reduce the amount of carbon being emitted from new construction.
After 3,400 years, Athens will soon get its first big park. When completed in 2030, Ellinikon Metropolitan Park will be an enormous addition of public green space that may prove as important to Athenians as Central Park is to New Yorkers.
Although residential fell more in the first quarter of 2023, office remains Europe’s most scarred commercial real estate sector, according to advisory firm Green Street. Government mandates around sustainability are also tightening, and Cushman & Wakefield says 76 percent of European office space could be obsolete by 2030 unless landlords start investing now.
Strict one-use-per-parcel zoning rules have long limited the growth of mixed-use projects in Spain, but the builders of a new office, residential, and commercial project in Madrid hope their example will pave the way for other integrated projects.
A number of factors are encouraging developers to try to bring Mother Nature on as a partner. On the carrot side, some governments are offering incentives to build green. There are sticks as well, which are also helping to keep builders focused on their carbon footprint
Leaders of the commercial real estate industry attending COP 27, the United Nations climate conference being held this year in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, said a variety of challenges and opportunities lie ahead in the industry’s drive toward sustainability.
Planners are taking a more defensive approach to waterfront design in the hope that they can deliver the appeal of urban life near the water without putting lives at risk.
