Relaunching cities through a process of urban regeneration to put the Covid emergency behind us. This challenge for the real estate sector was discussed in two online events organized by Sole 24 Ore and Corriere della Sera, in which also took part Aldo Mazzocco, CEO of Generali Real Estate, which outlined a picture in which real estate investments promise to be substantial in overcoming the health emergency. Here are some excerpts from the speeches of the manager who leads the most important company in the sector in Italy and among the most relevant in the global panorama.
When asked about how the real estate sector is changing under the pressure of the crisis of recent months, Mazzocco replied that "compared to the other crises we have gone through in the last twenty years, we are now facing a global crisis which has given a sudden acceleration to some changes, which are already underway , both from the point of view of technological innovations and social behaviors. However, it is good not to go to extremes or get caught up in excessively revolutionary long-term visions. Remote working, which most companies have had to implement massively for a limited time, investing substantial resources, can only become the norm for some sectors (technological companies in primis) and only for some company functions".
“Already now – continued the manager – we seem to see that the use of remote working is settling on 20-25% of the staff, often with rotation plans. By their nature, companies are made up of a diversity of people who come together to produce, discuss, invent; in the long run, the performance of companies can only be negatively affected by the lack of sharing, the loss of identity and the impoverishment of creativity that extreme remotisation necessarily entails. That's why I think not only offices are still needed but they will remain central to the competitiveness of companies. Rather, I see a new update of the layout of the workspaces: wider and more distant workstations, safer paths and connections and a rethinking of the sharing spaces which until recently were defined as 'contaminating', but which now obviously will also have to change name".
In this regard, the buildings of CityLife, owned by Generali Real Estate, set the example, which have been designed with sustainable and flexible solutions capable of adapting quickly to changes in format, and are ready for the challenge identified by Mazzocco. Who then also intervened on the health emergency e on the theme of de-urbanization: “In my professional life I have witnessed several times discontinuities and crises that seemed to make big cities suddenly obsolete in favor of smaller cities, characterized by a higher quality of life: I am thinking above all of the advent of the personal computer, the internet and high-speed transport. But the big cities, Milan in the lead, have always known how to maintain a capacity of magnetic attraction thanks to the very nature of people, which leads them to aggregate where there are greater stimuli and opportunities for work, commerce and social exchanges”.
“A reduction of pressure is certainly desirable – continued the CEO of Generali Real Estate – on the major cities for the benefit of territorial diversification, but above all initiatives will be necessary to improve the livability of the large cities, above all in the peripheral areas, with a growth of proximity services and attention to environmental quality. So I don't think that a process of deurbanization can be imagined”. But what role does real estate play in the Italian and European economic recovery? “The real estate supply chain is a driving sector for the economy, which in Italy, as well as in Germany and France, exceeds 15% of the GDP; while in Italy it does not seem to find the right relevance on the political agenda. However, we are facing a historic opportunity deriving from the European Recovery Fund, which puts huge resources on the plate to be allocated not to current spending but rather to investments, to build the future of the next generations and enable them to repay the debt ".
“It will be a question above all – according to Mazzocco – of investment in human capital and infrastructure. It would be desirable that the dialogue on investments also concerned the real estate sector for a true urban regeneration and a substantial modernization - also from an ESG perspective - of the building stock, given that buildings are nothing more than the infrastructures where people carry out their activities – work, commerce, housing, free time – and where human capital is cultivated. It would also be appropriate for major regeneration interventions, aimed at redesigning entire portions of the city, to see the public act not only as a regulator but also as a promoter and partner of private operators and investors. The creation of a new quality real estate product thus becomes an important investment opportunity that produces income and generates quality of life".
