Cities are transforming to meet the demands of a decarbonising world, new ways of working, the rising priority of health and equitable urban environments while balancing competing economic and housing pressures. On 29 June urban leaders came together for the ULI Netherlands Future Cities Summit, a hybrid forum moderated by Judi Seebus, Director, Bellier Financial and hosted at Valley, an innovative EDGE project nearing completion, that embodies urban innovation and the major transformation taking place in the Zuidas district of Amsterdam.

To set the scene, Xavier Jongen, Managing Director, Catella Residential Investment Management, shared that a recent scientific report outlined that global temperatures would rise by 3°C two times above the global target of 1.5°C. Encouragingly, Xavier Jongen acknowledged many urban leaders are implementing strategies that align with global targets, but highlighted that the meeting of targets is not sufficient, policies may need radical rethinking and innovative practices available today are already proving that buildings can be climate positive.

The ensuing leadership debate lead by Caroline Bos, Co-Founder + Principal Urban Planner UNStudio / Directeur AM Concepts and esteemed panel which included, Josja van de Veer, Director Department of Urban Planning and Sustainability, City of Amsterdam, Staffan Ingvarsson, CEO, Stockholm Business Region and Xavier Jongen explored ‘How are strategies adapting to meet the demands of a greener, healthier and decarbonising city?’. Both Stockholm and Amsterdam have adopted far-reaching strategies that seek to achieve carbon reduction, with Stockholm leading on stringent building and business strategies, while  Amsterdam has implemented innovative policies such as the ‘City Doughnut’ initiative, an economic model that aims to drive societies and businesses to contribute to economic development while respecting the limits of the planet and society. The debate highlighted that some leading cities are actively collaborating to innovate and share best practices to bring forward healthier, decarbonising cities but questioned whether these strategies are sufficient to reach long-term targets.

Achieving long-term sustainability goals also requires private sector leadership and Diane Hoskins, co-CEO, Gensler provided an inspiring closing keynote that outlined Gensler’s repositioning to transform their organisation and supply chain to ensure buildings can make a difference. Their systemic approach focuses on an integrated building approach that drives economic and ESG goals throughout their design process and ultimately aims to lead a shift towards human-centric, healthier, greener and more innovative cities.

A special thank you to EDGE for hosting the Future Cities Summit at Valley Amsterdam and our annual sponsors.

The recording will be available soon on Knowledge Finder.