FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES

From left: Geoffrey Hurst, vice president sustainability, Related Companies; Nikki Greenberg, founder and chief innovation officer, Real Estate of the Future; Budiarsa Sastrawinata, FIABCI world president; Michal Mlynar, deputy executive director, UN-Habitat; Susan Greenfield, FIABCI”™s immediate past world president, associate broker at Brown Harris Stevens and HGAR member; Roger Jann, managing partner of Einbrucke LLC; and Christine Auclair, coordinator, World Urban Campaign, UN-Habitat. Photo by John Vecchiolla Photography.

The Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors Inc. (HGAR) joined FIABCI, the International Real Estate Federation, UN-Habitat, and other industry colleagues recently in sponsoring a forum to promote sustainable planning at Fordham University”™s Real Estate Institute in New York City. “Real Estate in Action””Achieving SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities” was designed to advance the United Nations”™ Sustainable Development Goal 11, or SDG11, which focuses on resilient planning to improve living standards, ensure economic resources and implement sound policies.

  FIABCI World President Budiarsa Sastrawinata discussed the importance of collaboration to affect change, especially when it comes to overcoming carbon threats. “With an anticipated extraordinary population growth and looming threat of climate change, there is an urgent need to construct more sustainable cities that can accommodate our citizens,” Sastrawinata said. “FIABCI stands ready to fully support the United Nations and other institutions in making a positive impact on the world by working together.”

Global panelists, moderators, real estate and business professionals, and diplomats gathered at the “Real Estate in Action: Achieving SDG-11 Sustainable Cities and Communities” forum July 13, 2023 at Fordham University School of Law in New York City.

Michal Mlynar, deputy executive director of UN-Habitat, noted there are only seven years left to achieve SDG11. “We need urgent and large-scale policy intervention and any investments in sustainable urban development,” Mlynar said. “You, as real estate urban practitioners, are at the frontline of climate action and well-positioned to generate impact.”

 The event was presented by FIABCI and UN-Habitat, and promoted under the World Urban Campaign, a global advocacy and partnership coordinated by UN-Habitat to promote sustainable urbanization. FIABCI, founded in 1951 in Paris, is a worldwide business networking organization for professionals associated with the real estate industry. It was formed to help countries with reconstruction following World War II.

 The Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors® is a not-for-profit trade association supporting more than 14,000 members in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange counties, the Bronx and Manhattan. HGAR is the second largest Realtor® association in New York, and one of the largest in the country.