Now is the time for a new urban movement
-
Email
-
Facebook
-
Linkedin
-
Twitter
-
Whatsapp
02 November 2020
For at least the last 7,000 years, human beings have gathered to live together, creating urban sites. The archaeological record of artefacts, tools, buildings and even entire settlements shows the many and diverse ways that people have chosen to live together, in villages, towns and cities across the world. But all past, and indeed present, examples of communal living arise from a shared desire to solve our common problems and create opportunities that the solitary life cannot provide.
From our most fundamental need for food, shelter and companionship, to fulfilment through creative and spiritual endeavour, collective living is a means by which we have transcended the limits of our individuality, while building something greater than the mere sum of our parts. The evidence is there to see in the welcome improvements in life expectancies and productivity that we have seen across our civilisations’ histories. So we should never doubt the benefits realised in combining our material resources and intellectual capital via urban life.
However, with this success comes its own challenges. As identified in the RICS Futures project, living together at ever greater proximity and scale has put enormous pressure on the services and infrastructures that underpin our urban existence, some of which were planned and designed for a different demographic age. Increased mobility has added to this strain, with populations seeking improved economic chances often having to compromise on other aspects of lived experience, whether in the quality of housing they inhabit or the broader amenity that their urban lives provide in the form of accessible green space or leisure facilities. In turn, we are asking more and more of the natural world on which we rely for primary and wellness resources to fuel our increasingly intensive lifestyles.
This longstanding paradigm has become more acute today with the arrival of COVID-19 and the necessary but restrictive policy response. In fact, the pandemic has exacerbated the continued and growing demand for more liveable urban space, underpinned by affordable and effective infrastructure within an inclusive, sustainable economic model. How will we deliver this in a planet-preserving, sustainable way? Who will pay for it? And will the distribution of returns be equitable and fair?
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the continued and growing demand for more liveable urban space, underpinned by affordable and effective infrastructure within an inclusive, sustainable economic growth model.”
These are just some of the questions that I am delighted will be addressed in the World Built Environment Forum’s New Urban Movement month. Beginning today and running until the end of November 2020, this exciting programme of webinars and briefings will showcase the very latest insight and analysis from RICS experts and leading thinkers drawn from across the built and natural environment.
As well as featuring keenly awaited updates on sector performance amid the pandemic via the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor and RICS Global Construction Monitor, I am particularly looking forward to a progress update on Hyperloop, the next-generation mass transit mode with the potential to revolutionise the way we move between cities and states, and sessions on technological innovations powering sustainable urban mobility, including active travel provision and autonomous vehicles. The latter especially is an urgent issue that gets to the heart of the dilemma facing both policy-makers and built environment professionals in the present environment – for they must balance the need to restart urban economic activity with delivery of new improved and more equitable outcomes from the perspective of both public and planetary health.
This has the potential to be a turning point for our species to go beyond the achievements of the past and write a new chapter in our urban human story. It will require ambition and commitment, not only to overcome our present challenges, but to grasp the opportunity to deliver a future that is both more equitable and more beneficial for everyone.
Now is the time for a new urban movement – and I look forward to driving this forward together with you.