Held in fast-paced and bustling Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in mid-November, ULI Asia Pacific’s REImagine 2024 brought together more than 100 professionals. The event is an alternative to the annual Asia Pacific Summit with content curated to foster a reciprocal learning experience.
It offered attendees the opportunity to exchange perspectives, discuss industry challenges, share best practices, and gain valuable insights—to identify transformative solutions for the built environment within the core industry themes of Economy & Capital Markets, Sustainability & Resilience, and PropTech & Innovation.
The discussions were timely. Amid so many challenges confronting the wider real estate landscape, the setting of Vietnam’s rapidly growing and exciting market inspired a mix of experienced industry leaders and the next generation of change-makers to explore the future.
Members collaborated via a blend of educational presentations and panels, interactive roundtables to exchange ideas, practical and solutions-focused workshops, and engaging study tours enabling REImagine 2024 to become a starting point for shaping Asia’s future cities.
Finding solutions together
Workshops and roundtables were among the engaging elements of the program, with the focus continuing on the three core themes. Delegates were divided into small groups to consider diverse scenarios based on three different imaginary cities, each with its challenges.
Ultimately, these scenarios challenged urban planners, architects, designers, financiers, and other participants to navigate the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities to reimagine the future of each city.
Delegates also had the choice of exploring key themes in more detail via roundtables on different topics—from innovative urban finance to smart planning for a sustainable and resilient future, to how to leverage proptech and data analytics to shape the cities of tomorrow.
Panel and session topics included:
- How to capitalize on Vietnam’s promising economic growth prospects to make its cities examples of prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable living centers.
- The key components of successful cities in terms of their liveability, tackling some of the challenges and aspirations for CBDs going forward.
- How countries across the region are enhancing and adapting their built environments to mitigate the physical effects of climate change.
- Where patient and agile investors can find opportunities to diversify and generate returns given forecasts of rapid growth in middle-class populations, urbanization, and consumer spending in Southeast Asia.
- How the next generation is approaching work in new ways, requiring employers together with designers, architects, and other key players shaping the future of the built environment to take note.
- A unique journey through the career of life trustee and former Chair of ULI Asia Pacific, Nicholas Brooke, who began his career managing rural property in the United Kingdom; later advising on significant urban development projects in Asia and the Middle East.
Building for the future
The sessions across both days were only possible with the active and creative participation of ULI’s members from across the region, as well as the partnership from our sponsors—PropertyGuru, and IndoChina Capital.
Looking ahead, as an event focused on bringing together the brightest minds in the industry, both current and future, the discussions and formats from REImagine 2024 offered foundations to build on, to showcase innovation with even more focused, interactive and timely sessions at the next regional event.
