Urban Regeneration: New Collaboration Between Bocconi and UN-Habitat
Urban regeneration represents one of the most crucial challenges of our time. As urban population increases, the pressure on city infrastructure has grown exponentially, making it essential to rethink and redevelop urban areas to make them more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. According to the UN, by 2050 about 68 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas, underscoring the urgency of adopting urban regeneration strategies that can improve quality of life and promote environmental sustainability.
In this context, an agreement has been signed between Bocconi and UN-Habitat that provides for a collaboration focused on assessing the impacts of urban regeneration in different cities around the world. Bocconi’s Sustainable Urban Regeneration Lab (SUR Lab) will be the lead unit for implementing the agreement. SUR Lab director Edoardo Croci said, “This partnership with UN-Habitat represents a unique opportunity to jointly develop policies, business models and innovative approaches for sustainable urban regeneration.”
There are several areas of collaboration between the two institutions. In particular, the parties will work together to: devise methodologies, guidelines and technical documents for urban regeneration; collaborate in regional and international networks and working groups; and implement local-level initiatives of urban regeneration processes.
“Through this agreement,” Croci stresses, “we aim to consolidate data and knowledge on spatial inclusion and climate action in cities, providing measurement tools and indicators to assess the social value generated by regeneration projects.”
One of the first concrete activities of the collaboration will be the organization of a joint event at the World Urban Forum, to be held in Cairo from November 4 to 8. During this event, an Atlas of urban regeneration cases and best practices, the result of the collaboration between Bocconi and UN-Habitat, will be presented.
In addition, UN-Habitat will use a tool, currently being developed by the SUR Lab, to assess ESG (environmental, social, and governance) dimensions in urban regeneration projects in different cities. This tool represents a step forward in the ability to monitor and improve the impact of urban regeneration projects on a global scale.
The agreement between Bocconi and UN-Habitat marks an important collaboration to address the challenges of urban regeneration in a sustainable and inclusive way. With the SUR Lab at the center of this initiative, Bocconi University confirms its commitment to research and innovation for global urban development, actively contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.