European Leaders Meet at CTBUH Europe Regional Conference

CTBUH leaders based in/around Europe gathered for a leaders meeting on Thursday, 22 June, 2023 to kick off the inaugural CTBUH Europe Regional Conference. The event was hosted by UNStudio, in the building Massif Central, where their new offices are located.

Steve Watts, CTBUH Chairman, opened the meeting with an overview of the CTBUH Americas regional conference that had just taken place in Seattle the month prior. He turned things over to Dario Trabucco, CTBUH Regional Director Europe to run through the agenda for the morning.

Next on the agenda was Tracie Moxley, Director of Member Engagement, who provided updates from CTBUH HQ on current initiatives and events. Dario Trabucco followed with the vision for CTBUH Europe and then broke the attendees into three groups to discuss the following:

  • Topics of Interest: What challenges do you face when pursuing sustainable vertical urbanism in your work? What would you like to learn more about?
  • Initiatives: What outputs and engagement opportunities elicit the most volunteerism at the local level? How can we structure activities to ensure local involvement transcends to the regional level? What can you do to support membership growth, sponsorship and local engagement?
  • Inclusion: What excites you about engaging at the CTBUH regional level? How can the Europe region be united in its diversity? What obstacles might get in our way? How can the Europe region serve you?

The groups discussed each topic for about 40 minutes and then everyone came back together to share their thoughts with the larger group.

After a short break, the chapters from the region provided an update on their activity: France, Germany, India, Israel, Nordics, Turkey and the UK. And then Dario Trabucco opened the floor up to discuss the host cities for the European regional conferences in 2024 and 2025. Representatives from several countries pitched locations for 2024, but the group felt that Istanbul was the right choice for 2024, and a vote confirmed it.

The meeting ended with a delicious lunch provided by the café at Massif Central, before delegates headed to the off-site tours which were taking place that afternoon.

The leaders meeting for the inaugural CTBUH Europe took place on the morning of 22 June.
The meeting was held at Massif Central, home to UNStudio’s new office.
Updates were given about current CTBUH initiatives and the identity for the regional hub of CTBUH Europe.
Updates were given about current CTBUH initiatives and the identity for the regional hub of CTBUH Europe.
Leaders went into breakout groups after the update from CTBUH headquarters to discuss the future of CTBUH Europe.
Breakout groups at the meeting.
Following the breakout groups, leaders reconvened and shared with the entire group a summary of what they discussed.
Ariane Dienstag gives an update on the CTBUH French Chapter.
Roland Bechmann of Werner Sobek shares highlights of events in 2022 from the CTBUH Germany Chapter.
Moshe Tzur of Moshe Zur Architects and Town Planners provides an update on CTBUH Israel Chapter.
Ilayda Oner of Turner Construction provided an update on the CTBUH Turkey Chapter.
Andy Campbell of Multiplex Construction Europe discusses the CTBUH UK Chapter.
Anil Hira of Buro Happold shares the latest happenings of the CTBUH India Chapter
Mehmet Kiliç of Turner Construction talks about potential conference locations for 2024.
CTBUH Europe Director Dario Trabucco closes the meeting with a call to action.
The final item on the agenda was lunch, which all lined up for after a full morning.
Leaders ate lunch, discussing the day's events and catching up with each other.
The CTBUH leaders who attended this very productive meeting in Frankfurt!