Technological disruption and changing habits are rapidly transforming our relationship with the built environment. Offices and retail spaces, in particular, have seen occupancy rates plummet over the last decade, leaving portfolio owners, government, and businesses to respond through code exceptions and incentives.
Meanwhile, growing urban populations and an increased reliance on digital technology – and now the explosion of AI – have placed huge pressure on power, water, and data. With so much change happening in our society and in our world, the same old thinking will no longer be enough.
We need to radically reconsider how we use our buildings and work to transform them to meet the needs of a new era.
The choices we make today will define the urban landscape — both in real estate and financial terms — for generations.
Integrated planning, enhanced by AI, can balance short-, near-, and long-term needs with unprecedented sophistication. If we are going to get the important decisions right so future generations can thrive, this needs to be central to decision-making from the very beginning.
Integrated planning with a systems approach offers us the chance to look at future needs by focusing on the efficiency of multiple systems at once. By considering how people and businesses use our cities and what requirements they have for the built environment, portfolio owners can fully understand the asset's value over time and respond accordingly.
By thinking differently and considering all the factors that drive change in our cities, we can achieve not just better-performing assets, but urban areas better equipped to meet the needs of a changing world.
By analyzing current and future needs, we can break assets down into mixed-use configurations – an approach which has had huge benefits in many European cities over the past decade or so.
This approach can have a major impact when it comes to revitalizing urban communities that have struggled to recover from the impact of the pandemic. Specifically speaking, by locating assets people need daily – such as leisure spaces, health clinics, and logistics hubs for last-mile delivery – adjacent to one another both improves quality of life and drives job creation.
Meanwhile, locating energy, water, and data infrastructure in close proximity can reduce emissions and makes for more resilient communities. For example, Currie & Brown estimate that almost all excess heat from existing data centers can be captured and used to heat homes. Locating these asset types close to sources of heat demand can simultaneously drive down both carbon and energy costs.
This should be the starting point for how to look at surplus assets, and to think bigger and more ambitiously about how they are connected – identifying different uses as part of an urban system to meet the needs of today and tomorrow.
The focus should be squarely on the forces that cause change in what people will need in the future. This should then be structured around a broad, bold, future vision for the city—reduced emissions, natural disaster mitigation, access to power, water, and data, better mobility infrastructure, healthcare facilities, manufacturing and data hubs, in addition to housing and social infrastructure.
To achieve effective multidisciplinary and systems-based thinking, as we do at Sidara, we must bring together expertise from planning, advisory, design, and engineering to create a successful vision for the city’s future.
Washington DC is planning for a major transformation. The remote work revolution and plans for a smaller federal labor force mean that major decisions need to be made when it comes to real estate. Although this represents an enormous shift, this is DC’s once-in-a-generation opportunity for reinvention and is an obvious case for intelligent adaptive transformation.
In anticipation of these changes, the federal government has created the US Public Buildings Reform Board to advise on the strategic repositioning of GSA-owned public assets in Washington DC.
As part of this initiative, a strategic perspective that involves looking at the portfolio in a holistic way and using systems thinking could be of significant long-term benefit to the Federal City.
New priorities that offer greater value in the long term can be considered, including power generation, water, and data connectivity. We can also look to more radical solutions, such as a vacant building’s capacity for data and energy storage, enabling the city to become more resilient and meet its climate goals more quickly.
Here, by studying the opportunities presented by connectivity and adjacency, priority can be given to the adaptations that offer the greatest long-term value – from a financial, environmental, and social perspective.
Meanwhile, growing urban populations and an increased reliance on digital technology – and now the explosion of AI – have placed huge pressure on power, water, and data. With so much change happening in our society and in our world, the same old thinking will no longer be enough.
We need to radically reconsider how we use our buildings and work to transform them to meet the needs of a new era.
Transforming the way we think about our cities
Adaptive reuse and mixed-use developments have been around for a long time. However, in the era of artificial intelligence and predictive analytics when we look at our existing assets, are we asking the right questions?The choices we make today will define the urban landscape — both in real estate and financial terms — for generations.
Integrated planning, enhanced by AI, can balance short-, near-, and long-term needs with unprecedented sophistication. If we are going to get the important decisions right so future generations can thrive, this needs to be central to decision-making from the very beginning.
A better vision through systems thinking
When it comes to disposing of assets such as buildings, all too often owners look only to each individual asset and its current market value – focusing on short-term financial returns. To ensure the long-term health of our cities we must move away from this transaction-driven approach.Integrated planning with a systems approach offers us the chance to look at future needs by focusing on the efficiency of multiple systems at once. By considering how people and businesses use our cities and what requirements they have for the built environment, portfolio owners can fully understand the asset's value over time and respond accordingly.
By thinking differently and considering all the factors that drive change in our cities, we can achieve not just better-performing assets, but urban areas better equipped to meet the needs of a changing world.
Focusing on adjacency for more vibrant, sustainable places
Traditionally, when it comes to changing the use of an asset, we have had a narrow perspective – simply trading one building type for another. In today’s fast-paced world, this will no longer work.By analyzing current and future needs, we can break assets down into mixed-use configurations – an approach which has had huge benefits in many European cities over the past decade or so.
This approach can have a major impact when it comes to revitalizing urban communities that have struggled to recover from the impact of the pandemic. Specifically speaking, by locating assets people need daily – such as leisure spaces, health clinics, and logistics hubs for last-mile delivery – adjacent to one another both improves quality of life and drives job creation.
Meanwhile, locating energy, water, and data infrastructure in close proximity can reduce emissions and makes for more resilient communities. For example, Currie & Brown estimate that almost all excess heat from existing data centers can be captured and used to heat homes. Locating these asset types close to sources of heat demand can simultaneously drive down both carbon and energy costs.
Predicting the future and responding today
It has never been easier to predict the future state of our cities. Data and technology now allow us to model changes in demographics, economic composition, and energy consumption in the years to come.This should be the starting point for how to look at surplus assets, and to think bigger and more ambitiously about how they are connected – identifying different uses as part of an urban system to meet the needs of today and tomorrow.
The focus should be squarely on the forces that cause change in what people will need in the future. This should then be structured around a broad, bold, future vision for the city—reduced emissions, natural disaster mitigation, access to power, water, and data, better mobility infrastructure, healthcare facilities, manufacturing and data hubs, in addition to housing and social infrastructure.
To achieve effective multidisciplinary and systems-based thinking, as we do at Sidara, we must bring together expertise from planning, advisory, design, and engineering to create a successful vision for the city’s future.
Case Study: Washington DC’s Federal City
Washington DC is planning for a major transformation. The remote work revolution and plans for a smaller federal labor force mean that major decisions need to be made when it comes to real estate. Although this represents an enormous shift, this is DC’s once-in-a-generation opportunity for reinvention and is an obvious case for intelligent adaptive transformation.
In anticipation of these changes, the federal government has created the US Public Buildings Reform Board to advise on the strategic repositioning of GSA-owned public assets in Washington DC.
As part of this initiative, a strategic perspective that involves looking at the portfolio in a holistic way and using systems thinking could be of significant long-term benefit to the Federal City.
New priorities that offer greater value in the long term can be considered, including power generation, water, and data connectivity. We can also look to more radical solutions, such as a vacant building’s capacity for data and energy storage, enabling the city to become more resilient and meet its climate goals more quickly.
Here, by studying the opportunities presented by connectivity and adjacency, priority can be given to the adaptations that offer the greatest long-term value – from a financial, environmental, and social perspective.
A carbon-neutral future for DC
When it comes to energy specifically, Introba has developed a comprehensive carbon neutrality plan for Washington DC that should see the district reduce its emissions by almost 90 percent within the next twenty years.
Through simulating energy and emissions from the city’s buildings and transportation networks, the strategy identifies how the city’s buildings can be effectively retrofitted, its transport network be electrified and waste management improved so the district can hit its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Through integrated strategies such as these, and responding through a multidisciplinary lens by bringing together planning, advisory, design, and engineering, we can shape an ambitious future for Washington DC – and other cities across the US and beyond – starting from today.
Kirk Mettam is an Adaptive Reuse Specialist and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Growth at TYLin.
He is an industry representative on the US Public Buildings Reform Board’s Technical Advisory Panel, advising the Federal Government on the strategic repositioning of public assets in Washington DC.