MANILA – Livability and human space remain the key elements in building “smart cities” as people flock to the metropolis not just for work but also to have living spaces where they value proximity, convenience and a workplace conducive to productivity and cost-efficient humane space.
These are among the highlights of the discussions at the CEO Forum’s “Asia Real Estate Summit 2019” with this year’s theme “Riding the Revolution of Real Estate” at the Manila Marriott Hotel conference hall on Wednesday.
The summit gathered real estate experts, leading professionals service and consultancy firm and corporate executives from the construction industry sector who tackled disruptions in the real property and asset management and construction industry and analysis, predictions and sharing of best practices.
“These are all the macro-indicators in real estate, and you have to be in the Philippines if you want to sustain tradition of the business on how workspaces, new wave of technology, disruption, livability and efficiency and convenience are fine-tuned, the way economies are built,” said Christophe Vicic, JLL Philippines country head, who shared key solutions to changing landscapes in workspace and work dynamics.
Vicic said their “Future of Work” Model is really about the human experience for the new generation who do not want a close office or time-bound for the reporting time of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. but on a work project, by putting their best skill and skilled people together.
“The office environment is one of the key elements we see today. It’s a gig economy and this is how the future will look like that’s why we are preparing for the generation of young people who want a different kind of environment,” he added.
He described the millennial generation as “digital natives and work differently on skills specialization where they are highly, digitally mobile, doing search instantly and are very good at using or leveraging at networks.”
According to Ian Chadsey, Solutions Development Director for Asia-Pacific at JLL, millions of people are moving into these urban smart cities to take advantage of the evolving way of life and work.
“As smart cities continue to rise where information and communications technology (ICT) is maximized to enhance livability, workability, and sustainability,” said Chadsey, citing the need to invest in education, relationship building, affiliations with the corporate world.
He said the Philippines right now is looking at investing in smart cities with its pilot program with ASEAN which include 26 cities in the region, citing the UN report that around 50 percent are currently living in cities and projected to reach 70 percent by 2050.
“The city is going to be congested, traffic is bad, massive pollution, socio-economic challenges so we need to start addressing these issues,” Chadsey urged, stressing “the smart city is not about having cool app.”
He explained that smart city involves the human element like giving people better access to health care, education, among others that smart city will be focusing on to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants while respecting the environment.
Urban planners and experts refer to smart city, also called eco-city or sustainable city, an urban development which aims to improve the quality of urban services or reduce its costs involving the use of ICT and Intenet of Things (IoT) for a smart economy, smart management of resources and assets, lifestyle, mobility and transport systems including traffic management, housing, energy utilization, waste disposal, etc which reconciles techie innovations with economic social and ecological challenges of the city of tomorrow.
“In this age of technology and innovation, real estate is challenged to evolve as well, to integrate living and working into many advantages and strengths of technology,” he said, citing that the construction industry with new corporate innovative solutions now makes offices faster, cheaper and with efficiency.
Yves Luethi, co-founder and director of Talox, a company that focuses on digitizing workflows an data for office landlords and agents has underscored how user behavior is now dictating the demand for real estate.
“There is a human element in the community side with property technology or PropTech we developed, a current challenge among multinationals and government institutions devising their office environment and technology innovation on the corporate side,” he added, citing technology, not just a ‘driver’ but also support entrepreneurs to transform the industry.
He also observed the millennials are taking over key positions, and their digital behavior is dictating the course of many companies, given the immense demand for flexible workspaces as more people demand flexibility and technology and “it’s a novelty of family office environment.”
He also shared his experience working with the millennials because “just using their cellphones, they would understand and adapt immediately, and grow up as “mobile native citizens”, they are a techie and my from my own experience, I can do everything with my mobile phone, and impact is there.”
He described this new trend an improvement and innovation of what people currently do like on the work productivity side where cloud-based software and inventory management system with productivity tools have been developed to connect with people at the marketplace like landlords and brokers.
Meanwhile, Fausto Liriano, Executive Chair of RCL Realty shared with the summit participants that their job is to bring development to help the communities grow and underscored the need to have consistent corporate social responsibility (CSR).
“We have programs on scholarships, feeding programs, training and make sure we are contributing in specific areas, through CSRs, not only when there are calamities,” Liriano said, underscoring the need to integrate nature and environment in the corporate activities and programs.
He also urged participants to be part of the different, create impact in the community by engaging local folks through CSRs, respect the environment and contribute to the local economy.
“Children are the living messages we have to see as they are the next generation of inheritors of the development that are taking place,” Liriano said. (PNA)
