Mrs. Habiba Al Mar’ashi, Co- Founder and Chairperson of the Emirates Environment Group, has professed that the group is organising a global conference, under the patronage of Expo 2020 Dubai, in partnership with Global Urban Development (GUD) and in association with the Embassy of Switzerland to the UAE and Bahrain. The conference is supported by the Emirates Green Building Council and the Clean Energy Business Council. HOK UAE and Knauf UAE have come on board as Silver Sponsors of the conference.

Mrs. Al Mar’ashi shared that the conference is scheduled for the 16^th of March at the Dubai Exhibition Center – Expo 2020, it will discuss affordable housing technologies and sustainable innovation communities. To be able to contribute to global efforts aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement, the Sendai Framework and the New Urban Agenda.

Accentuating further, she highlighted that sustainable housing is more important today than ever, as it is estimated that by 2025, 1 in 3 urban dwellers will live in substandard housing, affecting more than 1.6 billion people. The upcoming conference will examine the negative public health consequences of poor quality and inadequate housing, the need for innovative urban housing solutions and the importance of sustainable communities.

The forum will showcase advanced construction and other technologies with the potential to revolutionise the housing sector, dramatically reduce housing costs, create jobs and create sustainable, climate-resilient, in addition to the multi-use innovative housing concepts.

The theme of the conference will revolve around helping the world achieve sustainable development goals through the development and application of advanced technologies, sustainable innovations and climate resilience, disaster risk reduction, circular economy, inclusive prosperity, and participatory solutions to produce more cost-effective and affordable housing and communities.

Explaining about the expert packed plenary sessions, she said that the 5 main themes of the conference are “Integrating Technologies: Constructing Sustainable Housing”, “Re-examining Policies: Inclusive Role of Leadership”, “Accelerating Progress: Learning from Best Practices”, “Empowering People: Role of Finance” and ” Alternating Urban Designs: Path to Sustainable Communities”.