All Things Urban

BLENDED LIVING The past decade can be considered nothing less than a miraculous one in human innovation. More ideas and products have been realised than any decade before, with greater flows of people, goods, and services between cities, countries and continents. In this new, global world-order, life goals and work preferences are changing too. It is impossible to ignore the changing role of cities and pivotal importance of universities and knowledge institutions. Urban living increasingly is characterized by transience and inclination to constant change. Human capital and talent attraction are the driving force behind urban advancement in a competitive order of global cities. The fast changes in modern society are turning our lives in a permanent stage of becoming, and increasingly blurring the environment around us. At The Class of 2020, we have been investigating the future of urban living, working and learning for a footloose generation of international talent. The recognition of the co-revolution being a natural progression for the student living sector inspires us to explore all the blends young people encounter in their living experience. While physical realities meet virtual spaces; the European market is witnessing both an institutionalization and a blurring of PBSA as asset class, embracing innovative lifestyle specific and hospitality-driven living products. The urban campus is the ultimate mash-up of higher education and novel ways of working and living together. Digitalization is disrupting our perception and experience of space, and creates learning ecosystems beyond proximity. We are looking forward to exploring these topics together with you and 800 other thought leaders inreal estate investment, development and operations, international higher education and city leadership.

In 2011, The Class Foundation was founded in response to a growing student housing crisis in the Netherlands. This regional scope widened throughout the past decade but the core purpose remained; unveiling innovative solutions to the common challenge in solving the student housing crisis.