MIPIM Asia 2025: What are Asian cities learning from each other?

Summary

The Urbanist – MIPIM Asia 2025: What Are Asian Cities Learning From Each Other?

Podcast: The Urbanist
Host: Monocle (Andrew Tuck, David Stevens, Carlotta Reebelo reporting)
Date: December 4, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Urbanist takes listeners inside the MIPIM Asia 2025 real estate summit in Hong Kong, exploring how Asian cities are responding to unprecedented urban growth, sharing knowledge across borders, and learning from both triumphs and tragedies. The show brings together insights from city leaders, urban planners, investors, and sustainability experts, with discussions touching on high-density living, aging populations, climate resilience, and the shifting priorities of the real estate sector. The recent tragic fire in Hong Kong’s Taipo district serves as an urgent backdrop to conversation about safer, more inclusive, and sustainable urban futures across Asia.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Unique Role of MIPIM Asia

(00:17–03:26)

• Nicolas Boffi (Director, MIPIM Asia) reflects on his transition to leading MIPIM at a pivotal moment for Asian real estate and urban challenges.
• Emphasis on the event as a compact, connected space for high-level networking and best-practice exchange across the APAC region.
• MIPIM’s global reach: over 20,000 attendees in Cannes vs. 400 in Hong Kong, with plans for further editions in places like Riyadh.

Notable Quote:

“At the center of this there is the question of learning from each other. I really like the city to city learning, especially between global cities, where I think most of the urban challenges are concentrated in a very globalized world.”
— Nicolas Boffi (04:48)

2. Knowledge Exchange and Global Urban Trends

(03:49–06:04)

• Public/private collaboration is key, with Manchester cited as exemplary for its urban regeneration partnerships.
• Importance of modular construction in Asia for tackling housing crises—offering lessons for Europe.
• Technology and AI are “totally redefining the way we work” and transforming urban infrastructure and development.
• MIPIM is positioned as platform not just for investment, but mutual education.

3. Responding to Tragedy: Building Standards and Safety

(06:20–11:05)

• The Taipo housing complex fire is a somber reminder of the human stakes; safety and building standards are now central topics.
• Donald Choi (Managing Director, Hong Kong Urban Renewal Authority) emphasizes ongoing vigilance:

"It's not only at the very beginning of the construction, but throughout the lifetime of the building—operation to maintenance.” (09:17)

• Tragedies are not unique to high-density Asian cities—risk awareness and lasting precautions matter everywhere.
• Regulatory response and professional responsibility are critical.

4. The Asian Perspective: Ageing Societies and Social Solutions

(11:05–16:03)

• Japan’s senior living challenge: with over 10% of population now 80+, new insurance schemes and senior housing models have emerged.
• Tsuji Tomikawa (President, Mitsui Fudosan Investment Advisors) on structural issues:
  • Senior housing needs scale and professional management—something Japan is still building towards.
  • The rise in loneliness among urban elderly is mitigated by insurance-funded services and community engagement.
  • Lessons for China, Malaysia, Indonesia as rural-urban divides accelerate demographic shifts.

“Urbanization creates situations where parents, elderly, grandparents are left alone in the countryside… elderly citizens in the future may not be able to be assisted by the sons and daughters who are living in the cities.”
— Tsuji Tomikawa (15:10)

5. Sustainability’s Shift from “Nice-to-Have” to Non-Negotiable

(16:03–21:29)

• Esther Ann (Chief Sustainability Officer, City Developments Limited, Singapore) recounts three decades of environmental advocacy in real estate.
  • Green and healthy building practices have transitioned from peripheral to core business concerns post-Paris Agreement.
  • Triple bottom line: Profits, People, and Planet are inseparable.

“If company don’t remain profitable, the first to suffer is going to be your employees… Profits, people, and planet are all interconnected or interdependent.”
— Esther Ann (19:44)

• Healthy spaces mean higher productivity, well-being, and retain economic value.

6. The Stakes: Cities Facing Existential Climate Challenges

(21:29–26:03)

• Singapore as a showcase for urban resilience and adaptation:
  • Climate risk in a low-lying, rainy, fully-urbanized state
  • 40% green cover via intentional design and park connectors helps keep the city livable and attractive to investment.
  • The real estate sector’s responsibility to reduce emissions especially from high-carbon construction materials (steel, cement).
  • Urgent need to ‘green’ building materials and focus on nature-based solutions for cities battling urban heat island effects.

“If we can green the real estate sector, we are on good track to green the world.”
— Esther Ann (25:52)

7. Hong Kong Case Study: Challenges in Ongoing Urban Renewal

(26:03–30:41)

• Hong Kong’s unique “double aging”: both its population and built environment are getting older.
• Donald Choi on balancing demolition and refurbishment:
  • It's not either/or—both are needed to retain cultural identity and reduce waste.
  • Emphasizes private sector partnership for investment and innovation.
  • Central Market as a model:

“Central Market… was abandoned and left vacant for a number of years. And then the URA together with private sector believed that we should revitalize… [it’s now] the showcase of modern Hong Kong kind of startups and entrepreneurship.”
— Donald Choi (29:34)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “At the center of this there is the question of learning from each other…more than ever, I think there’s always a lot to learn from the best practices.”
  — Nicolas Boffi (04:48)

• “Events like this are a strong reminder that ESG as sustainable fuel to the investment is no longer the cherry on the cake…It’s absolutely fundamental to all the capital investments nowadays.”
  — Nicolas Boffi (08:07)

• “It’s not only at the very beginning of the construction, but throughout the lifetime of the building… all of the procedures and precautionary measures.”
  — Donald Choi (09:17)

• “Profits, people, and planet are all interconnected or interdependent. This is what I can simply explain why sustainability…should be at the core.”
  — Esther Ann (19:44)

• “If we can green the real estate sector, we are on good track to green the world.”
  — Esther Ann (25:52)

• “We need to attract private sector involvement…to help us to renew our city at the same time actually provide better living environment and also be able to get a reasonable return on their investment.”
  — Donald Choi (27:55)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• Opening & MIPIM Context: 00:12–02:41
• City-to-City Learning: 03:26–06:04
• Post-Fire Response: 06:20–11:05
• Japan’s Senior Living Innovations: 11:05–16:03
• Sustainability Evolution: 16:03–21:29
• Climate & Singapore’s Urban Model: 21:29–26:03
• Hong Kong Urban Renewal Case: 26:19–30:41

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Memorable Moments

• Reflection on the aftermath of the Taipo fire and its impact across all summit discussions (06:20–11:05).
• Japanese struggles and lessons in scaling senior housing and managing elderly isolation (11:40–13:59).
• Singapore’s holistic embrace of sustainability not only as climate mitigation but as national and business survival (21:29–25:52).
• The Central Market transformation as a symbol of Hong Kong’s hybrid approach to history, innovation, and entrepreneurship (29:34).

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Tone & Language

Throughout, the speakers maintain an engaged, thoughtful tone—focused on pragmatic optimism, sometimes somber in the context of tragedy, but determined to exchange lessons and inspire better, safer, and greener urban futures across Asia.

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This summary captures the episode’s sweeping discussion of how Asian cities are learning from each other in the face of rapid change, and the real-world urgency spurring innovation in policy, design, investment, and sustainability.

Transcript

[Andrew Tuck]

Hello and welcome to the Urbanist, Monocle's program all about the built environment. I'm your host Andrew Tuck.

[Nicolas Boffi]

Coming up, there is a global momentum and I would say a dynamic change in Asia. I think we've been like in many other regions, we've been in a wait and see moments, waiting for a new cycle to begin. And I think maybe we are at the beginning of that you cycle.

[Andrew Tuck]

We're in Hong Kong this week for this year's edition of MIPIM Asia, the real estate summit for the AAPAC region. Over two days, developers, city officials, investors and urban planners came together to put the spotlight on a market that's standing out from the crowd. From tariffs to geopolitical tensions, climate change and new investment opportunities. Showcasing why APAC real estate leading the way in times of high volatility. The gathering also came at a pivotal time. The city is still unpacking the devastating consequences of a fire in a housing complex in taipo, which killed 146 residents, prompting serious conversations about building standards in an ever more urban world. Let's find out more about some of the discussions that took place with Monocle's Carlotta Reebelo reporting from Hong Kong. This is the urban.

[Carlotta Reebelo]

Across Asia, cities are growing at a rapid pace. A recent report by the United nations puts nine Asian metropolises in the top 10 of the world's most populous cities. This comes with its challenges. Of course. We need to build at a faster pace than ever before, all while ensuring it's done in a sustainable, healthy and innovative manner. Manner. This was the underlying theme of this year's MIPIM Asia Summit, which has just wrapped up in Hong Kong. It is a much smaller offshoot of the global real estate festival that happens in Cannes every year, going from some 20,000 attendees to 400. But that actually meant having a chance to engage in conversation with almost everyone in the room. Ahead of the first day, I caught up with Nicolas Boffi, mipim's new director. He took the post in September, so this event marks his debut at the helm of the show. Having attended MIPIN before as a guest, I asked him how different it is now to be on the other side.

[Nicolas Boffi]

Actually, this is not really a big step aside. I'm still very pleased to be working for the industry and for the quality of life. MIPIM has always been a fascinating trade show and networking platform. Actually, I knew quite well in my previous life and I think it was a really interesting challenge to take over the leadership of the show, especially because we are, I think, at Pivotal moment in the world in terms of real estate investment and urban challenges. We also want to develop MIPIM across the globe with new additions. So I think there's many exciting moments ahead. So this is the motivation that was at the foundation of my decision to join mipim.

[David Stevens]

It's always one of the conversations we tend to have is this idea of bridging the divide between different parts of the industry and even with the public in general, to something as simple as understanding the language and demystifying a lot of the concepts. Is that something that's very present in your mind? You know, we are here at MIPIM Asia, of course, looking ahead to Cannes next year. Is that something that's present in your work?

[Nicolas Boffi]

I think that's really central also to what makes MIPIM unique in the world. So 95 countries, 20, more than 20,000 people coming to Cannes, at least just for the Cannes show, right? A few hundred leaders in the Asian Summit and maybe tomorrow at the Riyadh and Middle east show, we are expecting a thousand people coming. But the diversity, I think of the visitors, the decision makers, is really invaluable for us because I think at the center of this there is the question of learning from each other. I really like the city to city learning, especially between global cities, where I think most of the urban challenges are concentrated in a very globalized world. I think more than ever, I think there's always a lot to learn from the best practices. And MIPIM is exactly, I think born for that. And I always think about the way public and private stakeholders are working seamlessly in the Anglo Saxon world. Especially for instance in Manchester. I was in Manchester very recently. The way they are getting ready for mipim, also the way they work together on a regeneration project, I think that's really exemplary. Also when you look at the way the modular construction has developed in Asia, I think that's really something interesting for most of the European countries looking for solutions, especially for the housing crisis. So looking east is something really important at the moment. If you look at the way, maybe some innovations, the way AI is totally redefining the way we work. Also how the technology and the infrastructure is also bringing a lot to the real estate and reshaping urban development around those new infrastructure. I think all those issues are developed through many different lenses and every country culture is bringing something different. And I think that's one of the interesting fuel of MIPIM is just not only attracting investor to accelerate your development, but also learning from each other. I think that's really what makes MIPIM really a quality show.

[David Stevens]

You mentioned looking east and we are here in Hong Kong for MIPIM Asia. What makes this edition of the event so special and what are some of the specific challenges and solutions that you are hoping come up over the next two days?

[Nicolas Boffi]

So first there is a global momentum and I would say a dynamic change in Asia. I think we've been like in many other regions, we've been in a wait and see moments, waiting for a new cycle to begin. And I think maybe we are at the beginning of that new cycle with the rise of transactions, especially in Southeast Asia, and how the intra Asia capital is really fueling the local growth. So I think that's going to be on the center of the conversations at our summit. At the same time we are taking place a few days after a horrific tragedy here in Hong Kong with the fire in the Taipo district. And of course we couldn't not say a word about this while we are starting the summit. Of course express our condolences and our thoughts and prayers to all those affected by this tragedy and the city of Hong Kong. But I think that's also bringing a light to the responsibility of all the stakeholders of the real estate and urban development that in the end we are building concrete urban developments. And this is our responsibility also to stay focused on the safety and the sustainability of our projects. And I'm very sure that what happened is going to be also center to many of the conversations this week.

[David Stevens]

It brings up one of the, I guess, challenges and risks of this rapid urbanization and in this case this tragedy happened here in Hong Kong. But we know of many similar ones that sadly have happened in other parts of the world. MIPIM is always a place where people share ideas and share best practices. But it's also important to talk about, you know, the things that don't work too. Are you hoping that this is a chance to have a bit of an honest conversation about that as well?

[Nicolas Boffi]

Yes. And I think also with the acceleration of urbanization, I think those events unfortunately may occur. And this is a strong reminder that for instance, ESG as sustainable fuel to the investment is no longer the cherry on the cake. The add on. It's absolutely fundamental to all the capital investments nowadays. And I think also that's really interesting to see. Hard capital now is much more selective and it's no longer a question of chasing yield but also chasing quality of investment and future proof investment. And I think what happened and may happen also is a strong reminder that every investment should take this into consideration.

Now.

[Carlotta Reebelo]

The summit began on the last day of National Morning as the city is still picking itself up back up from a devastating fire in a housing complex in taipo which killed 159 people. Donald Choi is the managing director and Deputy chairman of Hong Kong's Urban Renewal Authority and I asked him about the impact the fire had on the city.

[Donald Choi]

Well, I think it's a tragedy that affected not only the Taepo residents, but the whole community. I think we are shocked. And the tragedy and fatalities of the fire is something that we definitely would not want to see repeat in our city. So the city, apart from supporting all their affected stakeholders, we are actually already looking into the future to see how this type of tragedy can be prevented. There are talks about is it unique to high density city? I think the answer is no, because if you look at earlier this year the fire in la, it happened in a low density community as well. So it's all about the awareness of the risk. The proper precautionary measures that have been implemented and importantly for professionals is really to use their professional knowledge to ensure that the construction they are safe. And it's not only at the very beginning of the construction, but throughout the lifetime of the building. From operation to maintenance, all of the procedures and precautionary measures. We should actually be very careful with all the works going on in living environment.

[David Stevens]

Does it actually make you hopeful that there could be good change to come from this tragedy then when it comes to the way we build in the city, the way safety is taken when it comes to construction practices?

[Donald Choi]

Well, I think it's a lesson that we need to take to our heart. If we fail to notice the shortcoming and repeat it in future, there is no excuse.

[Carlotta Reebelo]

One of the interesting things about being here is that there is a shift in perspective and hearing how Asian nations are actually looking to one another for solutions. Take the case of Japan, where Now more than one in 10 people in the country are aged 80 or older. Local authorities, private investors and institutions had to get together and act fast. And one of those players was Tsuji Tomikawa, the president of Mitsui Fudosan Investment Advisors who betted on senior living solutions in cities. He started by telling me the scale of the problem.

[Tsuji Tomikawa]

I guess Japan was so concerned about aging population or rapidly aging population in our country so that we prepared first of all senior nursing insurance coverage and it was introduced in April 2000. And people who are 40 years and older will pay insurance included in the health insurance. People who are 65 and older had to pay additional senior nursing insurance, which helped services and budget subsidies by the government to fix your home and put in a rail for senior people who are assisted living to have a rail in their homes. And all these kind of barrier free renovations in our home. But at the same time we preparing for influx of institutional and professional capital into new senior housing to be developed. But so far we are still not accomplishing something that the United States may have accomplished in high end senior housing, which is scalable economy. Although we developed senior housing all over Japan by the private landlords as well as institutional capital, we have not accomplished the scale that is needed for operation. In other words, the senior housing operators, like hotel operators, they need a scale of economy like 200 rooms or 300 rooms minimum. But our historical supply limited to 200 units there, 100 units there, 80 units there. In the private landlord's cases, it's only 40 units there and 30 units there. With that, the professional management doesn't get developed. And that issue of scale and professional management that's associated with the scale is an issue today that we have not come to solution.

[David Stevens]

Another issue that comes up with the rapid aging population is the one of loneliness. And we spoke about that briefly in the session we just had. How do these two go hand in hand and what are some of the potential solutions you've been observing?

[Tsuji Tomikawa]

Well, there is an independent living and assisted living, and there's a gray area in between. And in our country, government assesses your degree of being needed to be assisted. So assisted living number one, assisted living grade number five is very different. And depending on those grades that government assists you or nurses assist you, you are entitled to enjoy different free services provided by the insurance which younger people pay. And that type of assistance will help people who are living alone to be belonging still to the community and participate in a sports event, entertainment event in the community as well as in the township.

[David Stevens]

The issues that Japan is facing, we can see that perhaps in the future other cities across the region will face. So you already are in a position to give lessons to your neighbors. What are some of the things that you would like to share, having learned from this journey that Japanese cities have been through?

[Tsuji Tomikawa]

I guess Hong Kong may not have the same issue. But large cities in mainland China, Malaysia, Indonesia into the future may face the similar issue. Because urbanization create situation where parents, elderly, grandparents are left alone in the countryside and the younger people enjoy working in megacities and continue to live in mega cities so that their parents and grandparents homes in rural Areas will be left alone, not being renovated, not being improved, so that elderly citizens in the future who needs help may not be able to be assisted by the sons and daughters who are living in the cities.

[Carlotta Reebelo]

As much as it's important to look at what's ahead, this summit was also a chance to reflect on how the industry has changed in the past decade, which was quite evident when talking about sustainability and building green in particular. Something that went from a nice to have at the end of a project to a requirement across the board. Esther Ann is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Citi Developments limited based in Singapore, and someone who's been working for the better part of two decades to bring the private sector into the fold.

[Esther Ann]

I have the privilege to have started my journey in real estate sector since 1995. That was more than 30 years ago and I have actually witnessed the evolvement. My first role in the company was actually to set up the public relations, branding and advertising and also communication with investors, with media, with public. That was the good old day. And at that time, sustainability or even ESG were not quite the bus work and climate action net zero were not even heard of in the 90s in our part of the world. So my first 10 years, when I talk about green, when I talk about environmental conservation, they say, oh, okay, very good, very good, let's talk about money and property pricing. Then the second 10 years it was still seeing some movement because scientists actually started to highlight the impact of climate risk and also rising temperature and all that. But the last decade, since 2015, Paris Agreement, in fact, this is the 10th anniversary of Paris Agreement, the world has really set up to listen to, really look at the data from IPCC or the scientists that hey, we need to save the planet. If it's 2 degree higher, you know, we are going to lose another 11% of global GDP by 2050. You know, if temperature continue to rise at this level, it May cost us 14.5 million lives and $13 billion of economic losses. So all these are data that are really hitting the world. But if you're talking about response, it varies because the world is very, very vast and very diverse. Not everyone is listening. And I will say that in a real estate sector I have seen a lot more progress. Very luckily we have a lot of conferences like Min Penh or the World Green Building Council, even our International Built Environment Week in Singapore and all have already started moving the lands to sustainability, not just green building, because green building is more than just energy efficiency. You also have to talk about spaces and the surrounding and the users. And especially after Covid healthy buildings, healthy spaces become quite a priority now. Not just building green, but also building healthy spaces. Healthy spaces means higher productivity, people are more productive, more efficient and also, you know, linked to economic performance as well. So in a good old day when you talk about sustainability, people only think of oh, tree hugging, you know, environmental. But today more businesses, especially in the real estate sector, they look at environmental issues, climate issues as core. That has impact on social sustainability and financial sustainability. What's most precious is not just about business, not just about profits, it's about people and planet. And I'm a firm believer of triple bottom line. Without healthy planet, there's no business and no healthy people and no profits for businesses to make. And if company don't remain profitable, the first to suffer is going to be your employees. Because a lot of company couldn't survive, they have to retrench people. So if you don't have profits, you also cannot take care of people, whether internal or external stakeholder. Your supply chain will suffer if you can't give them contracts and all that. So profits, people and planets are all interconnected or interdependent. This is what I can simply explain why sustainability. Sustainability is at the core of national agenda, business agenda and also social agenda.

[David Stevens]

It is really interesting to hear that perspective because we know that we need to build more human centric cities that put people first. But at the same time, particularly here in the APAC region and ASEAN as well, you know, we have cities that are slowly sinking, that are at risk of from climate change. So while sustainability is no longer just about climate, that remains really important when we talk about the future of urban living. So I guess the question I want to ask is, is it no longer just about profits but actual survival of businesses? Survival of the way we live in cities?

[Esther Ann]

Yes. Actually if I could just cite Singapore as an example. We are a small island city state, low lying city state. More than 170 over days are actually rainy days. And we are next to the equator, 1.5 degrees north of the equator. It's summer every day. So heat rising, sea level and flood are part of the whole survival of the country. And we are almost 100% urbanized. Nobody really makes a living, you know, through agriculture, very few, you know, in little agricultural or farming activities in Singapore. So as a city state we have maintained at quite high level in terms of standard of living. And one of the most expensive cities in the world, you know, not that I'm proud of it, but it reflects the economic performance of the country. So it's really a miracle. A city has very little natural resources, can't even provide more than 15% of food. Nutritious need for the whole population can maintain such a high level of economic performance. So what we are proud of is actually our green covers more than 40% of the countries, actually is covered with greenery and natural resources and park connector. And I think greening is really helping Singapore to maintain more sustainable, more livable and also provide the efficiency and conducive environment to attract investment to maintain Singapore as a very dynamic city, economic and financial hub and also technology hub. So I think this is an area that as a real estate developer we feel proud of being part of the nation building over the years. And for 30 years now, our ethos is actually conserving as we construct. So how we started is very focused on, okay, as a developer we can design, build and manage our property in a more positive manner to consider conserve the environment and conserve probably the community as well. And at that time that was before sustainable development goals were even established. So that was really the early day of thinking. But if you fast track to three decades now, conserving as reconstruct is still very relevant because the impact of construction or even retrofitting is so important to contribute to a more sustainable planet. And just now I share about the environmental data, carbon footprint and all. And the most important thing is the top building materials are steel and cement and together they are contributing to almost 15% of global greenhouse gas emission. And if we can really green all these building materials, it will really help to contribute to the global race to net zero. The world will not become net zero if we can't solve the climate problem, if we can't solve the real estate problem. Also one thing very important now we all learned that loss of nature and loss of biodiversity are getting more and more severe. If you look at the World economic forums, the ten year projection of the top global risk, 5 out of 10 are related to loss of nature and biodiversity. Of course, extreme weather, climate change, pollutions are all part and partial of it. So now in the real estate sector or even related sector, we are giving more attention to nature based solutions. Because technology is a given, mitigation is a given. But how do you really restore, regenerate nature and also biodiversity can help a lot in cooling spaces, especially urban spaces. Like in many cities we have urban heat island effect, a lot of concrete around us, all the heat that come out from air conditioning, conditioning and all the building activities. So if we can green the real Estate sector. We are on good track to green the world.

[Carlotta Reebelo]

Before leaving, I wanted to hear more about the challenges facing our host city, Hong Kong, and how the Urban Renewal Authority was created precisely to face the need to build better while dealing with a lack of space. Here is Donald Choi again.

[Donald Choi]

Urban Renewal Authority in Hong Kong was established in 2001. It was tasked with the mandate to actually stop the urban decay and also do redevelopment as well as building rehabilitation to ensure that we can further provide a better living environment for Hong Kong.

[David Stevens]

Tell me about the challenges that Hong Kong specifically is facing when it comes to rapid urbanization.

[Donald Choi]

Well, Hong Kong is a city that actually is double aging. So it's not only our population is aging, which means that elderly in our city we will be approaching, you know, every three person there will be one that is aged 65 and above. So it is a very rapid rate age. And again, not only our population is aging, but also our building. Right now our building is also getting older. So in about two decades, one in two building actually will be age 50 and above. So again, we need a lot of refurbishment, maintenance and also preventive repair. So to ensure that our city can continue to be functional and also satisfy the modern lifestyle needs.

[David Stevens]

It's almost like you're racing against time because you have a population that is aging, but then you also have the forces of this demand from the buildings that need to be renewed. How are you meeting those housing demands?

[Donald Choi]

Well, obviously it cannot be done by government alone or Yahweh alone. We need to attract private sector involvement, especially private capital, to actually participate in our city renewal. There are various opportunities for investors to come into our city to help us to renew our city at the same time actually provide better living environment and also be able to get a reasonable return on their investment.

[David Stevens]

Tell me about the conversation about demolishing versus refurbishing. Because when we talk about urban renewal, it always ends up in one of these two categories. But actually it's not as simple as that, is it?

[Donald Choi]

No, I don't think we should look at urban renewal as either redevelopment diminution. But also we are wrong in saying that we should not build any new building, just preserving the old building. I think it's a balance of both. Again, it is the coming direction as well, because it's not only about maintaining the cultural identity of the neighborhood, continue the historical significance of the city, but also in terms of sustainability. Obviously, demolition actually will be quite wasteful. And again, the more we can do with refurbishment, we will contribute are much better to our carbon footprint emissions.

[David Stevens]

Well, speaking of preserving identity while renovating and engaging in this process, a really fantastic case study here in the city is the Central Market. Can you tell me a bit more about that?

[Donald Choi]

Yes, Central Market, the existing building was built in 1939. Obviously the function of a wet market no longer fit into the modern living style of of the city. So it was abandoned and left vacant for a number of years. And then the URA together with private sector believed that we should revitalize and give new kind of vitality to the building to serve the modern city needs. So the URA invited private operator to come into the building to operate in terms of innovative business model. And it's not just about international brand, but it's about supporting the young startup as well as local entrepreneur. The SME is in a great central location, so actually the showcase of modern Hong Kong kind of startups and entrepreneurship.

[Andrew Tuck]

And that's all for this week's episode of the Urbanist. You can follow us for new editions of the show every week. And you can subscribe to Monocle magazine for reports on all things design, architecture and urbanism too. Just visit monocle.com the Urbanist is produced by Carlo Trabello and by David Stevens, who also edits his show. I'm Andrew Tuck. Goodbye and thank you for listening. City lovers.

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