In a recent webinar hosted by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), our very own Matthew Tribe, Executive Director, CallisonRTKL was joined by Despina Katsikakis, International Partner and Head of Occupier Business Performance, Cushman & Wakefield and Boudewijn Ruitenburg, Chief Operating Officer, EDGE Technologies to discuss how cities and buildings should be designed for the future in light of the recent pandemic.
Resilience was identified as critical to how we plan to build for the future. While resilience is no new concept, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light a new narrative for how we will make decisions and the way we will work going forward.
Tribe said: “Technology plays a huge part in resiliency. While we have always used technology day-to-day, the global pandemic created a reliance on it just to be able to do the basics of communicating, we now realise that it is actually possible to work anywhere and that being in the office is not as important as we once thought it was. Many people would say that they have enjoyed working from home and achieving more of a work-life balance without having to spend 8-10 hours in the office each day, not to mention the commuting time.”
“However, an office still has an important role to play in connecting us with our colleagues, creating a corporate culture, effective team collaboration and the ability to learn from one another. With this in mind, we need to become resilient in the fundamentals of office space design. Taking a ‘people first and building second’ approach will be important and incorporating wellness into office space should be a basic consideration. Designing with a clear focus on citizens and communities will facilitate productivity and contribute to the greater good.”
“From a development perspective, space outside the office is equally as important and cities should place more emphasis on human-centric activities, such as riding bikes to reduce our carbon footprint and by planting more greenery to keep our atmosphere safe. We still have a long way to go but a greater togetherness is starting to emerge as a result of the pandemic creating a safer world for all, both inside and out improving our society, community and planet,” he concluded.
For more on how CRTKL is building resiliency, read on here.