Key Takeaways From Davos 2023

2 years after the first meeting, the 2023 meeting in Davos convened over 2,700 leaders from governments, businesses, and civil society to address the state of the world and discuss priorities for the year ahead. Amid a ‘Polycrisis’ of risks from the war in Ukraine and climate change to the lingering impact of Covid, and threats of recession, this year's delegates had a full agenda. The multitude of ongoing crises calls for bold collective action. Forums like Davos provide a platform for discussions and collective efforts. The following are eight key takeaways from this year's event in Davos, from big picture, global challenges to those more specifically related to the built environment.

The global economy

The interregional flows of raw materials and manufactured goods, and the people, data, and capital this trade requires—is highly unlikely to come undone. No region is an island; every regional economy depends on the others for vital goods and services. Despite a decline in inflation rates in the US and Europe, the economy was viewed more optimistically than expected.

Sustainability

Balancing the energy transition and energy resilience for a net-zero future. Are you ready for the biggest capital reallocation of our (or anybody’s) lifetime? It is estimated that to reach net-zero emissions, the world must invest $3.5 trillion more each year than it currently invests. Great companies and leaders won’t let today’s challenges deter them from making the big decisions and investments needed to accelerate the transition.

Transportation

Despite governments’ best efforts, traffic is getting worse in many cities, and urban mobility has become increasingly complex. A great report by McKinsey, 'The road to seamless urban mobility', underscores this challenge and three future scenarios.

Innovation

With many suggesting a fourth industrial revolution is looming, industries are moving towards new technologies in order to maintain competitiveness and agility in a quickly developing field. Embracing sustainable energy and new technologies such as AI will be key to the Future. This year's meeting showed optimism in technology's potential to solve these problems, but also highlighted new challenges such as data privacy and loss of identity.

Governments and businesses

Need a plan to ‘build better’.Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN‐Habitat), joined business leaders in pledging to put these principles of good design into action as part of a public session on Cities Rebuild. Mark Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young, underscored the importance of putting social value at the core of urban transformation efforts. Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, highlighted the opportunity to accelerate climate adaptation and mitigation actions through more climate-resilient housing solutions in vulnerable communities.

Nature and circularity

Must be at the core of climate action in cities. Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Mayor Luis Donaldo Colosio of Monterrey, Mexico and Lord Mayor Sally Capp of Melbourne released a joint statement calling for increased funding and prioritisation of nature-based solutions to help cities fight climate change.Public and private sector leaders highlighted best practices to help ensure cities of the future are environmentally sustainable and socially resilient, as part of a public session on the Evolution of Urban Life.

Entrepreneurs

Are redefining the possibilities of urban life. Joe Ucuzoglu, Global CEO of Deloitte, and Suzanne DiBianca, Chief Impact Officer of Salesforce, announced commitments to launch the World Economic Forum’s first place-based UpLink innovation challenge focused on sustainable cities. This new effort will be piloted in San Francisco and will bring together corporations, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, nonprofit partners and other local stakeholders to support innovative solutions addressing environmental and social entrepreneurship.

Good governance

Is essential! Alan Belfield, Chairman of Arup Group, stressed the opportunity to accelerate the decarbonisation of buildings and cities through better data. And, Peter Herweck, CEO of AVEVA Group highlighted how developing nations are leveraging smart city technologies to improve city services and bolster the quality of life for residents.The World Economic Forum’s Council on the Connected World released its State of the Connected World 2023 report. This underscores the need for collective action from businesses and governments to address critical concerns related to ethics, security and accessibility for connected technologies. It was impressive to see the range of built environment themes covered. That said, while urban issues are increasingly part of the 'Davos agenda', given their importance to the social, economic and environmental future of the planet, they deserve more focus.