Reading French articles in newspaper Le Figaro (obviously you are not surprised I am reading one of the only French good newspaper), I was happily surprised by some topics related to real estate development, and how the industry where expecting to change since few months and really make a shift in the future to integrate sustainable development and circular economy in their development, really think about long term usage, with more flexibility in usage of buildings.
For instance, one new building in Bordeaux, or some development in Nantes, where expected to be built thinking about future multiple usages, for home residency, office location, hotel residency, commercial usage (restaurant, gym club…). This is definitely how we need to rethink the urbanism and development of our cities.
People will not expect anymore to spend hours in transportation, we have seen home office exploding since Covid, and despite some companies which are hardly pushing to have back people 100% in their office, this will not be possible anymore, or at least I believe it, as we have seen we could definitely be productive at home, and the best way to work would be flexible environment, with mix of office and remote work.
Article on new multi usage building in Bordeaux:
So having finally some developers/constructors/town halls who understand that, is key for the future of our cities. I want to also applaud the town halls who are supporting those initiatives, and specially in France. Because we definitely see some mayors/president who are not expecting anymore to support some construction projects, with the fear to be rejected for the next elections. But thinking with a bigger vision, and expecting to reshape your cities for the next 50 to 100 years, this will be a key differentiator to attract more people in your cities.
Let’s take the example of Singapore.
What I love about this cities, is every development and new construction, must be approved by obviously the town hall. To do that, they are modelizing the future construction and how it will impact the actual geography of the city, impact the circulation of the wind, of the people. Regarding the infrastructure, they are anticipating all construction to be ready for the next 100 years.
When you look at the bay development, they have prepared the tunnels, the pipes, the electricity conducts, to be ready for 100 years of population and demand growth. This is how you build for future, by anticipation and proactivity.
When you see then the carbon footprint impact of the city, it is definitely an example to follow for every major cities in the world.
Article on Singapore future urbanization:
https://www.ura.gov.sg/Corporate/Get-Involved/Plan-Our-Future-SG
Unfortunately in France, our different government or town hall, most of the time, are just considering what they could do to be reelected for the next vote… you can imagine it leads to some outdated projects the moment they are validated. So all the money will be spent in project that will be outdated only few years after the realization.
We need to think bigger (and not only in France), not talking about bigger buildings, but for bigger impact. We need to think how we want to shape the future of our cities and life style for the next 100 years, we need to be proactive and anticipate how the world will look like and plan for it.
We know climate change is already there, we must act and already build taking it into consideration.
Let’s oblige all the development to be carbon footprint negative, let’s oblige to get some parks, trees, green area in every development, let’s validate only building, houses if you have some vegetized walls, roofs, solar panels. Let’s avoid concrete construction, and privilege hempcrete, cococrete, bamboo, wood, compressed extracted rocks from the land where you build, and all alternative material with a positive impact on the planet. Let’s measure from conception to realization, and commercialization all the carbon impact but also the positive impact on community and planet, to validate the projects.
Article on alternative material to concrete:
https://www.bricsys.com/en-eu/blog/alternatives-to-concrete-in-construction
Article on recycling material for new construction:
https://www.lefigaro.fr/societes/batiment-la-course-au-recyclage-s-accelere-20230522
Find below some fantastic projects for the future of urbanism and construction. We all need to move faster on it, if we want to keep having a sustainable growth and positive impact on planet and people.
Let’s be bold, let’s be ambitious, let’s make a difference to live a better world for the 100 generation to come, and be proud of our time on this Planet.