Workshop: ‚Creating more value with less – the case for sufficiency in the built environment‘

On Thursday, 30^th January and Friday 31^st January 2025, we hosted an insightful workshop in Brussels entitled ‘Creating more value with less – the case for sufficiency in the built environment’. The workshop brought together our members as well as a range of policy, research and business representatives with a stake in the built environment.

You can find the agenda and slides down below.

Background

The construction and real estate sector is facing challenging times that pose significant hurdles for stakeholders and policymakers dealing with built environment issues. They are faced with the dual challenge of significantly reducing the sector’s environmental footprint, while at the same time urgently increasing the availability of and access to decent, affordable housing, thereby helping to reduce social inequalities.

Thus, there is growing momentum around the concept of sufficiency.

The aim of our joint work is to identify how the application of sufficiency principles and measures can contribute to positive economic, environmental and social outcomes.

What we have learned so far

Given the holistic and systemic approach to sufficiency in the built environment, the workshop discussions showed that it is important to develop a transparent sufficiency narrative for stakeholders with different entry points in relation to the building life cycle and operating in different geographical and cultural contexts.

What’s next?

The workshop was a first step in facilitating conversations between different stakeholders. The findings and insights will now be explored further in the coming weeks.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the workshop, both on stage and behind the scenes, and to all the participants who took such an active part in the discussions. We look forward to continuing the work.

Look out for more on the topic of sufficiency in the built environment soon.