BR.20.016 – RED & BLUE: Real Estate Development & Building in Low Urban Environments

Real estate and infrastructures are increasingly important drivers of wealth creation and economic activity, yet many of the highest value property markets in the world are exposed to growing climate risks, especially in deltas. Surprisingly, the effect of climate risks on the value of real estate and infrastructure and possible risk reduction strategies is not yet on the radar of policy makers, planners and academics, even though this value is strongly related to the opportunities to invest in risk reduction, and might even lead to the paradoxical effect of continued investments in vulnerable places. With the increasing impact of climate risks, and the increased exposure of built environments to multiple and sometimes new climate risks (e.g. floods, drought, storms), the impact of value-loss may have far-reaching effects on society, pressurizing political and economic systems. Today, practitioners in asset management institutions and at-risk cities are beginning to define the challenges ahead, and to develop tools and approaches for dealing with them. There remains a great need to better understand and define these challenges, and to develop good practices for addressing them in equitable ways supporting urban resilience. This project aims to understand the complex connections between real estate and infrastructure governance and urban climate risk management in deltas, using the Netherlands as its main focus area. It aims to do so by bridging the various disciplinary and sectoral approaches to climate risk management in deltas, including financial, legal and (re)insurance mechanisms dominating real estate development, and flood risk management strategies dominating urban climate adaptation. We aim to develop a more comprehensive value-based perspective that cuts across the realms of Real Estate Development (RED) focusing on finance and economics, asset management, politics, ethics, planning and governance, and to design and experiment with Building in Low Urban Environments (BLUE) pathways towards resilient cities.

Keywords

Governance, real estate and infrastructure value, sustainable urban delta, urban climate risk management

Other organisations

Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, Arcadis, Bouwinvest, C40 (to be confirmed), Deltacommissaris, Deltares, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Japan and US (to be confirmed), Maastricht University (UM), Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat, PGGM, Rabobank, Stichting Kennis Gebiedsontwikkeling, Universities in Singapore, Urban Land Institute (ULI), Utrecht University (UU), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), Waternet, Waterschap Rivierenland