Urban Regeneration and Real Estate Development: Turning Real Estate Assets into Engines for Sustainable Socio-economic Progress (PoliMI SpringerBriefs)

The book reflects on how intelligent urban regeneration can be an extraordinary driver of sustainable social and economic progress. It provides a friendly, evergreen and flexible thinking methodology that can serve as a reference guide to address a wide range of initiatives creating the conditions to thrive in an increasingly selective, rapidly changing and unpredictable market context. The book throws light on the importance of adopting an open approach based on collaboration, crafting strong visions, developing appealing value propositions, embracing a modern leadership style and setting-up highly effective multi-disciplinary team for the execution. It illustrates how standard approaches should be re-designed, business models innovated and processes re-engineered to guarantee better alignment between supply and demand of real estate as markets shift and new differentiators emerge among competitors. The book makes clear that creating a vibrant urban ecosystem requires a gradual shift of focus from built-environment investment to socio-economic output. It targets a wide audience of private and public sector professionals active in urban regeneration and real estate development. Preface 6 The Objective 6 The Context 6 The Challenge 7 The Opportunity 7 The Approach 8 Acknowledgements 8 About the Authors 9 Contents 10 1 “Intelligent” Urban Regeneration: Global Trends and Challenges 14 1.1 Social, Demographic and Environmental Trends 14 1.2 Urbanization: Concentrate or Distribute? 17 1.3 Built Environment and Emerging Needs: What Is Next? 20 1.4 Building Trust and Public-Private Alliances 23 1.5 New Challenges: Health, Safety and Sustainability 25 References 27 2 Looking for Flexibility: Dynamic Real Estate 29 2.1 Flexibility as a Strategic Approach 29 2.1.1 Context (R)evolution and Alignment of Physical Assets 29 2.1.2 From Predictive Models to Agility and Adaptability 31 2.1.3 “Change” and a New Approach to Cope with It 32 2.2 Flexibility in the Different Stages of Real Estate Development 33 2.2.1 Flexibility at Urban and Environmental Planning Consent 34 2.2.2 Flexibility: Guiding Principle in Design and Implementation 35 2.2.3 Operational and Commercial Flexibility 35 2.2.4 Real Estate Assets and Corporate Performance 36 2.2.5 Strategic Real Estate Management: Opportunities for All 37 References 38 3 Adapting to Change... or Driving Change? An Open-Source Approach 39 3.1 The Traditional Approach to Development 39 3.1.1 Typical Traits of the “Traditional” Real Estate Sector 39 3.1.2 A Centralised, Know-How-Based and Closed Approach 40 3.1.3 Limitations of the Approach in the Current Market Context 41 3.2 A New Approach for a New Market Context 43 3.2.1 How to Win in New Market Scenarios 43 3.2.2 Leveraging Data and Machine Intelligence 45 References 47 4 How Can We Drive Innovation? 48 4.1 Innovation as a “Total Solution”: The Business Model Revolution 48 4.2 Experimentation, Openness, Flexibility and Ambition 50 4.3 Recognising Good Innovation 51 4.4 Innovation: Putting People at the Centre 52 4.5 Intercepting and Adopting “Good Innovative Solutions” 54 4.5.1 A Digital Ecosystem for Sourcing Good Innovative Solutions 55 4.5.2 Creating Conditions for Scaling up Good Innovative Solutions 57 4.6 Urban Areas: A Fertile Ground for Innovation 60 4.6.1 Creating a State-of-the-Art Innovation Ecosystem 61 4.6.2 Driving Progress in Communities Through Innovation 63 References 64 5 Balancing Physical and Socio-Economic Attributes 65 5.1 The Socio-Economic and Built Environment Dimensions 65 5.1.1 “Soft” and “Hard” Factors in Real Estate Development 65 5.1.2 Soft and Hard Factors in the Design and Construction Phases 68 5.1.3 “Soft” and “Hard” Factors in the Post-development Operational Phase 69 5.2 Virtuous Trajectories and Negative Spirals: Value Creation or Degradation in Urban Regeneration Programs 70 5.2.1 Prosperity and Degradation of Real Estate Projects and Urban Areas 70 5.2.2 Creation of “Sense of Place” and Community 73 5.2.3 The Territory as an Ally for Real Estate Development 75 References 78 6 Opportunities to Create Value 79 6.1 Understanding and Integrating the Value Chain 79 6.1.1 Value Creation Potential in the Development Stages 79 6.1.2 Vision, Strategy and Product Design 81 6.1.3 Design and Construction 82 6.1.4 Marketing, Services and Management 84 6.2 Value Creation Tactics 86 6.2.1 Prototype, Test and Review 86 6.2.2 Join Forces and Forge Consensus 87 6.2.3 The Three “Cs”: Pursue High Quality on All Dimensions 88 6.2.4 Look for Gradients 91 References 93 7 Real Estate as a “Product” or “Service”: A Reference Framework 94 7.1 Creating the Vision and the Strategy 94 7.1.1 A Possible Reference Framework 94 7.1.2 Why Do We Do What We Do? Values and Motivations 96 7.2 STEP 1: Identifying Strengths and Competitive Advantages 97 7.2.1 Building the Project on Solid “Fundamentals” 97 7.2.2 Project Fundamentals and Evolution of the Scenarios 98 7.3 STEP 2: Understanding Customers and Stakeholders 99 7.3.1 Knowing Your Customers and Stakeholders 99 7.3.2 Investing Where Customers and Stakeholders Perceive Value 101 7.4 STEP 3: Identifying Concrete Opportunities to Create Value 102 7.4.1 Matching Strengths with Stakeholders’ Needs 102 7.4.2 Identifying Real Opportunities for the Project 103 7.5 STEP 4: Creating a Simple, Clear but Achievable Vision (and Its Concrete Purposes) 105 7.5.1 Creating a Vision, Defining Its Purposes and Motivations (Why We Do It) 105 7.5.2 Communicating the Vision Effectively 107 7.6 STEP 5: Defining Positioning and Objectives of the Initiative 107 7.6.1 Strategic Positioning in the Markets of Choice 107 7.6.2 High Level Objectives: Let Us Make the Vision Real 108 7.7 STEP 6: Benefits and Competitive Advantages Offered to Individual Stakeholders (the Value Propositions) 109 7.7.1 Defining Benefits for Stakeholders 109 7.7.2 Finding the Correct Balance Among Multiple Expectations 110 7.8 STEP 7: Defining Strategies and Action Plans 111 7.8.1 Creating the Executive Framework 111 7.8.2 Execution Is King: Creating the Executive Strategic Plan 112 References 114 8 The Importance of a High Performing Team: Quality, Diversity and Alignment of Objectives 115 8.1 Leadership and Teamwork 115 8.1.1 Leadership in Real Estate Development 116 8.1.2 The Importance of Individuals and the Importance of the Team 118 8.2 Share Values, Goals, Challenges and Successes 121 8.2.1 Creating Team Spirit, Identity, Values and Shared Objectives 122 8.2.2 Sharing Risks and Rewards of the Initiative 123 References 124 9 Positioning and Marketing of Real Estate Products 125 9.1 Market Positioning: Leveraging Your Very Own Skills to Create Unique Value Propositions 125 9.1.1 Competences, Competitive Advantages and Available Resources 126 9.1.2 Choosing Target Markets: Improving the Present or Creating the Future? 127 9.1.3 Understanding and Learning from Your Target Customers 128 9.1.4 Creating Value Propositions: Which Distinctive Aspects? 130 9.2 Marketing, Branding and Communication 134 9.2.1 Communicating Value and Benefits for Stakeholders 134 9.2.2 Managing Company and Project Brands 136 References 139