News in 2018

Cooperation agreement among Surveyors, Civil Engineers and Architects

7-9 November 2018, Athens, Greece


FIG President Chryssy Potsiou signs the cooperation agreement together with the presidents of UIA and ECCE

At the close of the high-level international conference, TUFE 2018, on climate, society and economy, FIG President Chryssy Potsiou signed a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with the International Union of Architects (UIA) and the European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE).

The Technical Chamber of Greece, FIG, the Working Party for Land Administration of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE-WPLA), the International Union of Architects (Greek Section) and the European Council of Civil Engineers, had organized this interdisciplinary conference which took place 7-9 November 2018 in Athens. They had invited policy makers, senior professional leaders, academics and relevant professional experts to bring together experiences and scientific knowledge that would impose setting up land policies and actions in the fields of sustainable land and real estate management for the humanity and the economic and legal empowerment of the poor and for dealing with the impact of climate change and other mega-trends.

President Potsiou at her opening speech said: “FIG strongly supports the idea of establishing global partnerships in support of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 and its goals. The organization of TUFE2018 joint conference by TCG, FIG, UIA, ECCE and UNECEWPLA is within the scope of SDG17. In particular, TCG, as the hosting partner, wishes to bring together the relevant professionals and their leaderships to establish a global partnership in support of governments and society for the better implementation of the sustainable development Agenda 2030.”

During the three days, trends in the management of land and real estate, including land administration, land use planning and territorial justice, heritage preservation, property valuation and taxation, construction stability and development issues in terms of technology, environmental friendly and disaster management tools, funding issues, technical  issues such as the blockchain technology and its potential, the use of crowdsourcing in surveying, as well as educational and professional aspects were presented. The effect of brain drain on developing or distressed economies, an effect of growing concern also within Europe was also on the agenda during the conference.

The presentations and discussions showed an interest and wish among all organizations and professions to work together to address these issues, and that all organizations have a responsibility and wish to jointly work on:

  • Increasing capacity among relevant professionals in the private and public sectors, and in academia, about their role in the digital society for the good management of land and real estate and for a sustainable real estate market;
  • Building sustainable and robust professions by outlining the value of architecture, construction quality and reliable and affordable geospatial information for the safety and well-being of the people;
    Planning for sustainable and affordable cities and establishing sustainable real estate markets and formalizing the informal real estate sector;
  • Developing multidisciplinary ideas on the impact of the current and future mega-trends in the built environment, construction industry and real estate;
  • stablishing a closer cooperation for a world free of poverty, fear and inequality, where life is safe and growth is resilient and sustainable.

Around 300 Architects, Engineers and Surveyors participated in this conference (proceedings will be available soon).

Like FIG, the Union of International Architects and the European Council of civil Engineers, have the UN Sustainable Development Goals on the agenda, and together the three organizations cover quite many of the 17 goals.

At the closing session FIG President concluded that “FIG has developed a great experience in issues such as security of tenure, registration of property rights and property valuation for the legal and economic empowerment of the poor and the sustainable management of land and human settlements. During the last 4 years FIG has updated the cooperation agreement with the World Bank to work jointly in the field of good management of land and more recently in particular for establishing sustainable real estate markets. FIG has a long cooperation with UNECE WPLA in developing joint research and publications in the field of formalizing informal settlements. FIG has also signed a new agreement with the International Real Estate Federation FIABCI to strengthen cooperation and to work on issues of common interest such as creating sustainable and affordable cities and strengthening the weakest and emerging real estate markets in formalizing informal settlements. The signing of this agreement among surveyors (FIG), architects (UIA) and civil engineers (ECCE) to coordinate activities and develop a common vision for fields of common interest for the better implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 is one more positive step forward.
 


Group photo from the conference TUFE 2018

 

Chryssy Potsiou and Louise Friis-Hansen
15 November 2018