PropTech and Property Innovations: A Guide to Digital Technologies and Solutions in the Built Environment

This textbook serves as a guide to real estate students and educators on the various property innovations and digital technologies that continue to shape the property industry. The advancement of PropTech in the last few decades has led to significant changes in real estate systems, operations, and practice, and this new textbook provides insight on the past, present, and future of PropTech innovations that have spread across the value chain of real estate through planning, development, management, finance, investment, operations, and transactions. The textbook approaches this subject from the real estate components, asset classes, and submarkets and links them to the associated innovations and digital technologies. It concludes by reviewing the role of education, innovation, skill development, and professionalism as major elements of the future of real estate operations and practice.

This book’s unique contributions are in putting the “property” element at the forefront and then illustrating how technology can enhance the various areas of real estate; the focus on how the different innovations and technologies can enhance the economic, environmental, social, and physical efficiency of real estate; and its coverage of some non‑technological innovations like flexible working and more practical areas of real estate innovation such as skills, employability, creativity, and education.

It contains 21 case studies and 29 case summaries, which can serve as practice exercises for students. This book will be useful to students in helping them build a knowledge base and understanding of innovation and digital technologies in the industry. Real estate educators can use the textbook as a guide to incorporate real estate innovation and digital technologies into their current teaching and also to develop their real estate curricula through PropTech‑related modules and courses where necessary. It will also be valuable to real estate researchers in search of the theoretical and conceptual linkages, as well as industry practitioners who seek insight into the current and future potential of digital technologies and their applications to real estate operations and practice.

Olayiwola Oladiran is currently a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Real Estate at the University of Sheffield, Lead of Shef.AI Urban Interest Group and Co‑Lead of the Shef.AI Innovation and Pedagogy Interest Groups. He is also the Co‑Founder of Bloomshill. He holds a PhD in Real Estate Economics, an MSc in International Real Estate Investment and Finance, and a BTech in Estate Management. Olayiwola is an RICS‑Chartered Surveyor (MRICS) and a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He is also a Board Member of the RICS Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Board. He won the UK PropTech Association Special Achievement Award in 2022 and the University College of Estate Management Harold Samuel Research Prize in 2020.

Louisa Dickins is the Co‑Founder of LMRE, the market‑leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia‑Pacific, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). She hosts “The Propcast”, a built environment technology podcast; mentors for REACH, a global early‑stage technology fund; and is a Committee Member of Real Estate Women, a non‑profit association whose mission is to create an equitable and inclusive industry, advocating for fair representation of women and minorities in leadership positions. She was also previously a Board Director for the UK PropTech Association, and was awarded the Young Property Personality of the Year Award at the Property Awards.