REBEC 2024: An image in the eye of man and his machine

As we’ve announced, on June 11-12, Belgrade is welcoming the leaders of international companies from over 40 countries of the world. This is a leading event in southeast Europe in the field of real estate development – REBEC 2024.

Through 24 thematic panels, we will “travel the world”: in terms of urban planning and architecture, finance, engineering and market. The representatives of global companies will present their experience and knowledge, discussing the burning topics from the fields of the development of hotel management, retail, office space, logistics, industry and apartment building, as well as all the current things within the legislation, alternative forms of financing, the impact of artificial intelligence and climatology on the development of real estate.

During those days, Belgrade will become the world capital of architecture, visited by the most prestigious names in this profession, who are increasingly present in the local markets, negotiating about jobs right here in our capital city.

An important topic will be EXPO 2027. As speakers, Matteo Gatto and Mario Liguori are to arrive on behalf of international fair associations, who are closely related to the development of the EXPO brand and who have rich experience in working on mega-projects, such as Universal EXPO (Shanghai 2010, Milan 2015, Dubai 2020). Their arrival to and participation in REBEC 2024 confirms the trust that international institutions have given Serbia.



“How will Belgrade look in 3024?”

Working on the visual identity of XVII REBEC, the organizers “played”, asking AI the question: “How will Belgrade look in 3024?” One of the machine’s answers was a colorful image of the city as can be seen in this article, with the machine trying to imitate a drawing made by a human hand. That visual solution, which bears associations of water-color paintings and stained-glass images, caught the eye of everybody in the REBEC team, precisely because it looked “the most human” of all the machine’s responses. We decided for it to visually and symbolically represent our 2024 event. With that image, we hint not just at one of the topics of this year’s REBEC, but the depth and the global importance of artificial intelligence, as an anthropological and sociological issue.

REBEC will not deal with what Belgrade will look like in a thousand years, but it will focus on how AI is shaping our lives.

Special focus will be placed on the trends of modern urban planning and architecture, a holistic approach to planning and its implementation. We will reveal how excellent design, understanding the geometry of a space, the use of natural materials in combination with innovative technologies, especially in the hospitality industry, can create destinations focused on deep relaxation.

We will emphasize how the integration of well-being stimulates business success and how increasing the benefits to the users, that is, the well-being hospitality concept, makes a difference.

We will also hear about how, in China, urban planning trends are being developed which determine the accompanying architecture, we will compare said trends with those in the Middle East, as well as with the European tendencies.

The necessity of humanity or humane necessity?

The world as we know it is changing and we are seeing rapid changes in regulations. As for the REBEC program, a week before the event, we want to highlight certain topics, without meaning to downplay the importance of others.

The concepts of social housing and students’ accommodation will premiere.

Experts from London, Prague and Vienna will be present at the panel and they will talk about strategic, legal, economic, urban planning, functional and sociological aspects of the development of these two models of housing. Here and in the region, the model of social housing is most frequently associated with favored/subsidized rent, although that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

It is no coincidence that the model of social housing is developing rapidly in the developed part of the world. This trend logically follows the global metamorphosis of the post-covid global society. The statistics say that we spend around 30% of our lives at our homes, where we are mostly between the evening and the next morning. In line with that, it has to be functional, harmonized and healthy, regardless of the differences in the quality of equipping (a price of tiles of 5 or 55 euros per m2 does not affect the functionality of the space).

States are the carriers of the strategies of the development of such products, with a sustainably harmonized legislation, which reaches capillary to the local self-government. In addition to aesthetics, the differences between the projects are reflected in the size of the parcels and their positions within the urban space. Everything else is automatic, including the contest, solving property issues, approving the financing, the forming of “ranking lists”, the signing of long-term agreements…

The definition of Student Housing says: “Student Housing is a place of residence during one’s university life. It is a place where one eats, studies and spends nights preparing exams. In essence, a majority of the time during the studies is spent in student housing.”

Each developed society presumes that the student population is its future, which is fostered and prepared to one day take the primary positions within it.

When we look at our region, the symbols of student housing are still publicly-owned students’ homes, institutionally defined within the Law on Pupil and Student Housing.

The trend of modern strategies is such that, from private sources of capital, everybody is enabled to have what’s basic, a minimum, but still of sufficient quality and sustainable, thereby increasing the likelihood of the realization of such products, raising the competitiveness in the market and enabling financial relaxation for students in the sense of fulfilling their needs. Sooner or later, the privatization of this sector will start in Serbia as well.

We will also present modern technologies, which include artificial intelligence, whose solutions place climatology first, will be presented. This topic should be taken as seriously as possible, because it has a serious impact on the profit.

Are we truly aware that EXPO is to be held in Belgrade?

As we’ve already said, the local audience will be addressed by Matteo Gatto and Mario Liguori, who worked on such mega-projects, worth several billion dollars, and who have rich experience in many challenges that await us regarding EXPO 2027.

Belgrade has already started preparing, the construction of the new fairgrounds and the accompanying residential complex has started in Surcin, entrepreneurs are intensively exploring locations for new hotels, service apartments, branded residences and membership clubs. There is information which confirms the trend that, on the stretch of the western part of the ring road around Belgrade, especially in the direction toward Surcin, an increasing number of bigger locations, until now non-cost-effective unsustainable, are developing in terms of urban planning for smaller continental resorts.

According to the model of service apartments of branded residences, the parcels are split into separate units, where each one has its pool. These will be closed-type complexes, fully sustainable and healthy in terms of energy and ecology. Here we have an opportunity to see the holistic approach in practice.

It is not impossible that, by the beginning of EXPO 2027, the first championship golf project with 18 holes and side features ends up being built in the Belgrade area.

Of course, the activities toward the improvement of the quality and the capacity of the traffic and utility infrastructure must not stop. All this will have a COLOSSAL impact on the development of the construction industry.

What happens after EXPO 2027?

Compared to the surrounding real estate markets, proportional to the populace and the GDP, Serbia is slowly but surely climbing to the top of the regional list as acceptable and sustainable from the aspect of favorable business risks, the degree of the return on investments and an adequate quality of the provided services. To be fair, at the moment when the inflation is now lowering at the desired pace and when the price of capital in banks is still high, there is an opportunity for alternative real estate financing products, which will be discussed at REBEC. In addition to promotion, there is also a need for education and presenting the rules in the realization of such products. The grandiose savings of citizens may be incited to “move to the market” from the banks.

Due to all of the above and the fact that Belgrade is the only major city in the region bordered by Milan, Istanbul, Budapest and Athens, we will host numerous regionally and internationally important speakers and visitors this year as well.

See you on June 11-12 at the Hotel Metropol Palace!

Festlent d.o.o. Beograd

Evozome design doo Beograd

Kooperativa studio Pančevo

AOC doo Novi Banovci

Atrium Property Services d.o.o. Beograd

Stonedge doo Beograd

Zajednička advokatska kancelarija Marković Vukotić Jovković

Tokata doo Beograd

Avalon Real Estate doo Beograd

Energy Concept doo Novi Sad

Horwath HTL d.o.o. Beograd

PlanRadar d.o.o. Zagreb

Ecovis SEE d.o.o. Beograd

Alfa Real Estate d.o.o. Beograd

Erste Bank a.d. Novi Sad

Leko Arhitekte internacional Beograd

Delta Real Estate d.o.o. Beograd

Banca Intesa a.d. Beograd

Eurasian Real Estate d.o.o. Beograd

JYSK d.o.o. Beograd

iO Partners d.o.o. Beograd

Beograd na vodi d.o.o. Beograd

CRE International Beograd

GTC MNG doo Beograd

REBEC 2024

Bogl Architects

Chapman Taylor

Reiner Schmidt

ReardonSmith Architects

Design International

Puricell Design

Multipraktik Design Studio

EVOZOME

Kooperativa Studio

AOC

MM Real Estate

MatteoGatoo Associati

SquarePlan

Atrium Property Services

EGA

NKO

Stonedge

MVJ Advokati

BigShefs

MPC Properties Germany

Tokata

Avalon Real Estate

Energy Concept

Reify

mstep

Accor

Hyatt International

Radisson group

Horwath HTL Srbija

Beyman Group

PlanRadar

Koton

Ecovis SEE

WE Consult

alfa real estate

Erste Bank Novi Sad AD

Leko Architects

Intesa Banka

Delta Real Estate

Walvius

Eurasian Real Estate BV

JYSK

IO Partners

B Devet Colander Associates

OM & Partners

Retail SEE Group

NGB Construction

EUROICC

Genius Luci

Giftify

Centar Akcija Doo

Adriatic EXPO

REPEX

Witreum

CRE International

GTC MNG

Choice hotels

Belgrade Waterfront

Matteo Gatto

Mario Liguori