ON THE ROAD WITH PAOLA G. LUNGHINI

Thanks to the warm season, Stockholm was unusually crowded with tourists from everywhere and with thousands of fans watching the "Volvo Ocean Race", the prestigious regatta that held its next to last stop in the city before ending in Saint Petersburg (where the "Ericsson 4", skippered by the Brazilian star Torben Grael, had, de facto, already claimed victory). The slow dazzling traffic around the clock that was choking the city gave me the opportunity to gaze - and grin - at the advertising posters that hailed Stockholm as the "European Green Capital 2010", because, being allergic to thin dust, I felt its symptoms right upon my arrival, which means that the Swedish capital could not have been very "green" during those days.

The light of the 'white nights' enveloped the city, allowing no rest for those of us from the Continent who longed for some darkness and were seized by a strange unrest, while causing Scandinavians, who had longingly waited for this for 11 months, to rejoice. The heat had tints of Africa to it and was almost too hot even for us southern Europeans; but the Swedes, though a bit sweaty, seemed absolutely happy to roam around in shorts and tank tops - no wonder, with the cold they suffer the rest of the year...

This was the Stockholm where, from June 24-27, the 16th annual European ERES Conference (European Real Estate Society) was held, a pan-European network of economists and real estate researchers and scholars that was co-organized this year with IRES (International Real Estate Society). Thus, the number of delegates from North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Rim was quite high, with a total of nearly 400 participants.

IRIS is the largest network for real estate research in the world. Nearly all academic institutions that offer a real estate degree or organize specialized courses and masters programs are linked to it. Major public and private European research institutions, as well as major development and investment groups, belong to ERES.