Crown Princess Mary attended the opening of a summit in Copenhagen that brought together people and organisations with ideas of how to rebuild following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hosted at BLOX, a “national and international gathering place that engages people in architecture, design and sustainable urban development through exhibitions, events, business development and new partnerships,” the Build Back Better Summit discussed how sustainable partnerships must work together as urbanisation increases, especially now due to the pandemic, according to its official website.
Crown Princess Mary attended the Summit along with other urban development professionals to discuss sustainability. According to BLOX’s website, “In 30 years, up to 70 percent of the earth’s population will live in a big city. It creates great challenges and it requires that we think new and sustainable in our urban development. A need that COVID-19 has helped to put at the forefront.”
The United Nations introduced the idea of Build Back Better in 2015 as part of its efforts to discuss safe rebuilding following disasters. UN representatives spoke at the Summit, as well as the Director of the World Health Organization’s European branch, who told guests that “we need courage and cooperation” to rebuild, and that the necessary measures for a better future are political rethinking, sector cooperation, delivery on the Sustainable Development Goals and healthcare development.
Before the Summit began, Crown Princess Mary received a tour of the BLOX facilities, which are located in Copenhagen. The facilities provide a “national and international gathering place that engages people in architecture, design and sustainable urban development through exhibitions, events, business development and new partnerships.”
Two new partnerships were discussed at the Summit: one with Milan, Italy, and one with a number of Latin American countries.
According to the BLOX website, the main topic of discussion was how “Caring is no longer enough. We need to build better afterwards – and we need to do it together.”
