Every 40 days, a city the equivalent size of Boston is built in Asia, writes Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Real Estate (MIT CRE) in a statement. To promote a sustainable approach to this rapid urban growth, MIT CRE has established the Asia Real Estate Initiative (AREI). It aims to bring together industry leaders, entrepreneurs and the academic community to find solutions to real estate development challenges.
The initiative is based on the concept of Asia as a living lab for the study of future global urban development, according to Hashim Sarkis, dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. One of its areas is connecting sustainability and technology in real estate. With support from an unnamed prominent alumnus of MIT CRE, researchers at the center will work on innovative technologies targeted at advancing real estate sustainability goals.
AREI also plans to collaborate with counterparts in Asia to contribute to research, education and industry dialogue. “We want to create a cross-border dialogue within Asia and among Asia, North America, and European leaders to exchange knowledge and practices,” explains Zhengzhen Tan, director of AREI, in the statement. She highlights the need to get to net-zero emissions for real estate development, saying that “real estate investors and developers are making short- and long-term choices that are locking in environmental footprints for the ‘decisive decade’. We hope to inspire developers and investors to (…) get out of their comfort zone.”
