Private-led urban development: Studying city building in NYC

Erwin Heurkens, 30 October 2019, Master City Developer, Module 6, Erasmus University Rotterdam For the Urban International Development module from the Master City Developer (MCD) course (as the module’s co-coordinator) I held a presentation on the US/NYC way of development and planning. For the course’s professional students, this presentation provides ground for conducting their New…

Reflectie op Gebiedsinvesteringszones

Erwin Heurkens, 16 October 2019, Ministery IenW, Utrecht CS Gebiedsinvesteringszones (GIZ) (Urban Investment Zones) are a rather new phenomenon for the co-investment in areas characterized by both urban redevelopment and real estate and space management. On behalf of the Praktijkleerstoel Gebiedsontwikkeling and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management I was invited to give my…

Urban regions shifting to circular economy: Understanding challenges for new ways of governance

Urban areas account for around 50% of global solid waste generation. In the last decade, the European Union has supported numerous initiatives aiming at reducing waste generation by promoting shifts towards Circular Economy (CE) approaches. Governing this process has become imperative. This article focuses on the results of a governance analysis of six urban regions…

Changing Planning and Development Institutions in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is faced with the challenge to accommodate the on-going process of urbanization, global investment flows, and increasing environmental concerns on its scarce developable land putting the city’s sustainable growth and livability at risk. This brings forward the need to effectively govern and manage sustainable urban development, which requires the alignment of planning and…

Interdisciplinary and experiential learning in urban development management education

To understand and deal with real urban development problems, urban planners, designers, and managers need to combine and synthesize a variety of academic and professional knowledge. As our urban challenges grow more complex, learning how to do this effectively becomes ever more important. For educators, this means teaching students how to work in interdisciplinary settings,…

Masterclass Ruimte voor Bedrijven

Erwin Heurkens, Tom Daamen, Fred Hobma, Erik Louw, 8 July 2019, Stadsontwikkeling Rotterdam, Marconitoren Rotterdam For the Municipality of Rotterdam – and City Development (SO Rotterdam) in particular- – we conducted a “Spaced for Companies” research about how to manage the integration of work and living functions within the existing city. Through co-organising several interactive…

Real estate investors’ maturity in using corporate social responsibility to develop sustainable properties

Rowie Huijbregts, Erwin Heurkens, Fred Hobma, 5 July 2019, European Real Estate Society (ERES) Conference, Cercy-Pontoise, Paris, France Pressing societal and environmental challenges influence real estate investment and development. Due to urbanization, gentrification, climate change and resource scarcity, the global call for more responsible and sustainable market behaviour has grown. As such, the notion of…

Alternatieve bekostiging infrastructuur: Lessen privaat-gestuurde gebiedsontwikkeling UK

Erwin Heurkens, 20 May 2019, Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat, Den Haag A Working Group on Alternative Financing of Infrastructure from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW) asked me to provide a lecture about UK planning tools that enable public infrastructure to be partially financed by private urban property development. Three planning/development…

Area development

Erwin Heurkens, 9 May 2019, TU/e Eindhoven This presentation held at the TU/e for the Urban Case Studies course identifies and discusses the main characteristics of urban area development. It portrays area development as an interdisciplinary and applied scientific and empirical domain.

The socially responsible real estate investor

Although publication of a vast amount of socially responsible investment policies suggests that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a common feature in today’s global real estate industry, in practice and research, the meaning and implementation of CSR principles remains largely unclear. Therefore, this study examines the use of CSR by comparing real estate investment…