Ghost Spaces, Magnetic Places and Affordable Homes: 3 Catalysts for Sustainable, Inclusive Cities

The way we all live and work has shifted in the past five years, but there has been one constant: the acceleration of urbanization. Contrary to widely-held beliefs, the pandemic didn’t slow this growth but reallocated populations from tier-one to lower-tier cities. According to the U.N., today, 55% of the global population lives in cities, and by 2050 that will be 68%.

Is accelerated urbanization good for society and our planet? The answer is a resounding yes, but it comes with an asterisk. This future city making must harness inclusive design, creative financing, non-traditional partnerships and social value-led, climate-savvy strategies to ensure that people and the planet benefit.

The triple bottom line rewards of sustainable, inclusive cities

Urbanization can help mitigate climate change, as greater density brings greater carbon efficiency per capita. According to the Applied Energy Journal, energy-efficient buildings could reduce global CO₂ emissions by six gigatons by 2050. The American Public Transportation Association found that public transit in the U.S. reduces carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons annually. We can help tackle the world’s biggest resource challenges by unlocking efficiencies like this at scale. This is critical, as by 2050, five billion people will face water scarcity for at least one month annually, according to the U.N. World Water Development Report.

On the economic front, urbanization globally is proven to create more jobs across all sectors — especially within the vulnerable employment category — and drive economic growth according to the London School of Economics and Political Science Business Review. Urbanization also drives productivity and economic diversification — which bolsters resilience. Research by the McKinsey Global Institute shows that productivity in urban areas can be higher than in rural areas, and the Brookings Institution found that regions with diversified economies experienced faster economic recoveries post-recession.

Socially, urbanization has plenty to offer. Research by the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University reveals that urban areas in the U.S. often have significantly better access to healthcare facilities, and a report by GlobalData shows urban areas offer more educational choices and higher-quality schooling opportunities. According to UNESCO, urbanization also drives social connectivity and can foster greater cultural diversity.

How can we responsibly drive urbanization to unlock these benefits?

By identifying the best investment catalysts for short-term growth and long-term returns.

1. Resurrecting ghost places and driving adaptive reuse

Stranded city assets, such as abandoned, a.k.a. ‘ghost’ airports, present massive potential upside for mixed-use regeneration. We’ve been involved in visionary whole-cloth redevelopment projects like Ellinikon in Greece, and projects like this show the mid- and long-term potential of transforming unused urban spaces into mixed-use green urban infrastructure. There are more than 1,700 abandoned airports in the U.S. and more than 1,300 in Europe.

Airports are only one example on the fringe of the urban core. Directly in the center of cities lie vast swathes of permanently vacated commercial space offering triple bottom line promise. By renovating existing buildings, you can heavily reduce the carbon footprint — the most sustainable building is the one that already exists. “Even if you replace an older building with a brand-new, highly efficient one, it could take anywhere from 50 to 80 years to offset that building impact,” says Ian Zapata, global lead for building transformation and adaptive reuse at a leading architecture firm.

There are miles of renovation opportunities. According to Edward Glaeser and Carlo Ratti, a pair of urbanism experts from Harvard and MIT, there is 74,582,671 square feet of vacant office space in New York alone — enough to fill more than 26 Empire State Buildings.

The greatest challenge here is not about finding space; it’s creating financial mechanisms to rejuvenate and transform ghost spaces into mixed-used, multi-benefit drivers.

2. Creating magnetic places with public-private partnerships

In the role of city-making, public-private partnerships (P3s) must be daring, visionary and interdisciplinary to drive visitor numbers and urban pride. Case in point: the 5.2-acre Klyde Warren Park in Dallas was a $110 P3-driven effort that created green space over a series of highway interchanges directly in front of the Dallas Museum of Art.

It receives more than two million visitors annually, provides an active mode oasis for residents and tourists and has boosted surrounding real estate values and commercial life. It’s also an ideal example of sustainable urban planning with a positive impact on health: studies published in The Lancet suggest that access to urban green spaces is associated with lower levels of depression and increased physical activity among residents.

3. Revolutionizing affordable, sustainably-built housing

The global lack of affordable housing is denying families in need the single most powerful instrument of economic mobility ever created. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there is a shortage of seven million affordable rental homes for extremely low-income households in the U.S. Simultaneously, increasingly rigid emissions compliance standards are gradually forcing higher prices.

This offers one of the world’s greatest challenges and opportunities: How do we design and build more affordable, more sustainable housing? Like the other two catalysts, this requires creative financing and careful collaboration with the right strategic stakeholders. We rely on industry innovation and technology, such as modular design, 3D printing and artificial intelligence, and smarter building materials, such as advanced insulation, triple-glazed windows and modular solar panels, to build the next generation of affordable housing within and around our cities.

Conclusion

Creating smarter, more sustainable cities — and incentivizing more people to live in them — are critical steps toward unlocking efficiencies at scale for decarbonization, economic equity and social value. By investing in these three catalysts, city makers can build the inclusive, diverse cities of tomorrow that benefit everyone with triple bottom line benefits.