Research to shape our urban future
Real Estate and Planning is the largest of six Research Divisions within Henley Business School and is part of the University’s Prosperity and Resilience research theme.
Established in 1968, it is one of the few departments for Real Estate and Planning housed within a business school and brings together the disciplines of Real Estate and Planning within the context of economics, finance, business, society, environment, ethics, governance and policy.
It is predicted that three-quarters of the world population will be urban by 2050, making more sustainable real estate development, investment, land and resource use, and spatial planning, critically important to deliver pressing environmental, social and governance priorities.
Our close relationships and engagement with a diverse range of industry, government and professional partners, enable our evidence-based applied research to have a significant impact on practices and policies in the UK and internationally in areas including: property valuation, commercial real estate and financial stability, mortgages, rents and values of energy–efficient buildings, property appraisal, procurement, development viability, land value capture, affordable housing provision, neighbourhood planning, localism and local industrial strategies, regeneration of town centres, urban health and wellbeing, elderly cycling, sustainability of global city regions, and lower carbon economies.
Wide societal and academic engagement and impact is promoted through dissemination of our research to lay public, academic, student and alumni communities.
Through our collaborations in international research networks and other Reading research centres, including the Walker Institute Interdisciplinary Climate Research Centre and the Institute for Environmental Analytics, our portfolio also addresses a broad range of cross–disciplinary environmental, social and governance challenges. Together with the School of Built Environment, our research addresses four inter-linked priority areas for sustainability in the built environment – ‘Planet’, ‘‘Place’, People and ‘Prosperity’:
- to help reduce the pace of climate change and provide built environment solutions for the planet,
- enhance the design, management and use of places and property, and
- improve the quality of life and economic prosperity of people.
The Real Estate and Planning vision is to continue to develop its world standing and global reach in making a positive impact on business, policy and society through its research on resilient and equitable development, investment, management and finance of both commercial real estate and housing. This will include developing research agendas around global and UK cities, the planning, design and governance of places, including the revitalisation of town centres, the financialisation of planning, the capture of development land value and the provision of affordable housing. For further information see the Centre for Real Estate and Planning Research (CREPR).
