2020 Thought Leadership Webinars
An exclusive Corporate Partner benefit – these 15-minute presentations allow firms to share a new concept, idea, best practice or case study via a webinar session across the ULI Asia Pacific platform.
2020 Thought Leadership Webinar Series
Webinar 1: A Case Study on Ho Chi Minh City Innovation District with Sasaki
11 March 2020
Like many global cities, Ho Chi Minh City is competing to attract and retain talent. With a strategic vision for its future, Ho Chi Minh is making a generational investment to reshape significant parts of the city to create a series of innovation districts that will accelerate its transformation from an industrial economy to one driven by technology and ideas.
To achieve this, authorities will need not only to transform the city infrastructure and urban identity, but also make meaningful changes to municipal policies and practices. In this webinar, Michael Grove from Sasaki shared the city’s ambitious plan to become a regional leader in the 21st century knowledge economy.
Webinar 2: An Overview of the China Outbound Real Estate Investor Intentions Survey Report with Cushman & Wakefield
8 April 2020
Restrictions on mainland Chinese outbound real estate investment have been in place since 2017, resulting in a sharp fall in outgoing capital flows and, more recently, a strategic shift among Chinese investors from overseas acquisitions to disposals, with over US$20 billion of overseas properties being sold last year.
In early 2020 Cushman & Wakefield launched its fifth annual China Outbound Real Estate Investor Intentions Survey (EN / 中文), providing insights into Chinese overseas investment appetite for the year ahead. Over 40 senior real estate investors contributed to the survey, with respondents typically managing total overseas real estate investment portfolios well in excess of US$100 million. The survey results help answer key questions including:
• Which global markets and asset categories will attract the most attention?
• Will the recent slowdown in activity see a rebound any time soon?
• What is the long-term outlook for Chinese participation in global real estate markets?
In this webinar, James Shepherd, Head of Research, Asia Pacific for Cushman & Wakefield presented the findings from this important survey and shared his insights and analysis around the China real estate investment environment.
Webinar 3: New Model for Chinese Old Town Redevelopment presented by SOM
24 April 2020
Guangzhou’s historic town conceptual framework plan seeks to revitalise the city’s Old Town, howcasing its identity as an historic trading post on the maritime Silk Road, as well its more modern role as an important transportation hub and economic centre.
With a systematic and integrated approach that balances historic preservation, modern reinvestment, and community revitalisation, the plan seeks to enrich the lives of Guangzhou residents and maximise the potential of the area as a premier destination for visitors.
A coordinated action plan reimagines Old Town as a district of desirable and walkable neighbourhoods, transformed into an attractive live-work-play destination for young people. It calls for re-establishing
the city’s historic water-town character by restoring its ecology, including reopening canals that have been covered over by urban development. The plan seeks to bring new energy and dynamism to the district and better integrate it into Guangzhou’s economy and tourism industry.
In this presentation, Doug Voigt and Luo Zhihang from SOM will introduce you their vision and the practices on this comprehensive plan for Guangzhou Old Town.
Webinar 4: Reconciling Competing Interests: Conservation, Education, and Urbanization – A Case Study of the Chengdu Panda Reserve with Sasaki
15 May 2020
The giant panda is a symbol for wildlife conservation around the world and an icon of Chinese culture. With only 1,800 left in the wild, pandas are one of the most vulnerable species on Earth. Although a staple at many zoos around the world, they are native to only one region in western China near Chengdu, which is also one of Asia’s fastest growing cities.
The Chengdu Panda Reserve is critical to the protection of this charismatic species. Since 1987, its research, educational, and public outreach programs have contributed to a significant increase in both captive and wild populations. This success, however, has put a strain on the current facilities. In 2020, over 18 million people are expected to visit the Reserve—a figure that surpasses current annual visitors to Disneyland. To accommodate this growth, the plan for the Reserve’s expansion seeks to guide growth proactively.
Join us for this edition of the ULI Thought Leadership Webinar Series, where our corporate partners can share innovative ideas, concepts, industrial insights and best practices across the region. In this presentation, designers Michael Grove and Tao Zhang from Sasaki will share this project’s significant effort to increase public awareness, reconcile conflicts between conservation and urbanization, and re-establish native habitats.
Webinar 5: Real Estate Agility in the Post COVID-19 Era: What’s Next?
22 June 2020
The flexible space market remains resilient despite Covid-19 putting the brakes on aggressive operator growth. Smaller occupiers continue to seek cost effective, fully furnished space, while large multinationals are looking to build more agility into their portfolio by adjusting contracts to allow more optionality, adopting a mix of leased and flexible space, having a locational hub-and-spoke model, and through workplace design solutions. So what is today’s new normal?
Join us for the latest edition of the ULI Asia Pacific Thought Leadership Webinar Series, where our Corporate Partners can share innovative ideas, concepts, industrial insights, and best practices from across the region. In this presentation, Manish Kashyap will seek to address the above questions and project how the flex office sector will change for both occupiers and landlords in the post Covid-19 era.
Webinar 6: Determining the “New Normal” for Offices by Arup
29 June 2020
Across the built environment, the Coronavirus pandemic is leading to an understandable focus on healthy indoor environments, particularly in social locations and workplaces. People spend 90 per cent of time on average in an enclosed environment, where pollutant and pathogen levels are often higher than those outside. This could lead to respiratory problems, pandemic diseases and even cancer deaths. Organisations across society attempt to adjust and adapt to the post-virus, pre-vaccine phase.
In this leadership series webinar, Dr. Tony Lam, Associate Director of Sustainability, Arup, will cover the strategy and practical steps to bring people and complex assets through periods of disruption. It will also look into key considerations for building a resilient organisation with a focus on indoor environment improvement, one that safeguards the health and wellbeing of occupants.
Webinar 7: China REITs – Making a Comeback?
31 July 2020
Investors have been awaiting the introduction of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in China for many years, but despite several false starts the concept never managed to gain traction. The announcement in April this year, however, that China would launch a pilot plan for a domestic REIT industry has rekindled interest among investors, even though, at least on paper, the ‘C-REIT’ structure is aimed only at financing infrastructure projects in operation for at least three years.
In this presentation, Mayer Brown partner David Ellis will explain how the new C-REITs will differ from other Asian REITs, as well as challenges still to be overcome before China can emerge as a significant REIT market.
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Tentative Schedule for 2020*
*dates are subject to change, please refer to the ULI upcoming events calendar for details.
Video archive of past webinars