Modus
Modus is the RICS magazine that brings you the latest news and views, expert advice and in-depth features spanning the breadth of the surveying profession around the world.
Its title comes from our motto: est modus in rebus – 'there is measure in all things'.
Modus has a circulation of over 90,000 and we recently won 'Best use of Illustration' at the 2015 Content Marketing Awards.
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Read the latest editions below.
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Planning & development
News 
Oliver Parsons, 24 Apr 2018
For discussion
One of the inevitable consequences of the world’s spiralling rate of urbanisation is that people are arriving in cities faster than homes can be built for them. What happens next should be obvious to anyone with even the most basic grasp of the laws of supply and demand.
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Infrastructure
News Oliver Parsons, 27 Mar 2018
For discussion
As cities become nodes of a global network, it’s been the largest, most outward-facing metropolises that have really benefited, leaving nearby smaller cities playing catch-up. So, could a cohesive mega-regional policy – particularly joined-up transport policies – help to distribute growth more fairly?
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Infrastructure
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 05 Mar 2018
For discussion
Welcome to the first edition of Modus Asia in this, RICS’ 150th celebratory year.
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Environment
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 27 Feb 2018
For discussion
The dramatic fall in the price of offshore wind power underlines how the world is undergoing an energy revolution. Meanwhile, energy grids are becoming smart and responsive, nuclear power is changing fast, and households can store more energy than ever before, placing them in more control.
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Environment
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 29 Jan 2018
For discussion
In this, the first edition of Modus in RICS’ 150th celebratory year, we case our eye to the future and ask: where will self-driving cars take us?
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Environment
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 04 Dec 2017
For discussion
Rare-earth metals are found in everything from mobile phones to ground-breaking cancer treatments. The rise in demand is taking us to the seabed, where some of the greatest concentrations of rare-earth metals are to be found. But the stakes are high: deposits are hard to access, procedures are largely unproven at this scale and the capital required is huge – not to mention the environmental risks.
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Property technology
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 09 Nov 2017
For discussion
With new technologies emerging and transforming working practices, it’s inevitable that the skills and aptitudes required by the industry will change. But the questions are… how, and when?
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Environment
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 03 Nov 2017
For discussion
Anyone nearing retirement today is likely to have seen some serious changes in the workplace. Computers (remember the days when ‘the’ office PC had to be booked in advance?) have made us responsible for our own admin. Partition walls have come crashing down as we move to open-plan workspaces. And email has turned the overflowing in-tray into the overflowing in-box.
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Planning & development
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 27 Sep 2017
For discussion
Meet the new, most important person in city hall: the Chief Risk Officer. Working across departments, these 'resilience tsars' bang heads together to learn about the particular threats that their city faces, and lead the development of a suitable resilience strategy.
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Infrastructure
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 25 Aug 2017
For discussion
More than ever in this shrinking world, a country’s economic growth is dependent on strong airport infrastructure, so if they are to thrive, it’s vital that they plan and deliver airports that are fit for the future. But how can we build that infrastructure in time?
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Commercial property
Publication Oliver Parsons, 08 Aug 2017
We probably all think that we have a strong sense of right and wrong, but how does that change when we’re working in an environment where culture, leadership and competing priorities make moral decisions much harder? How does our judgement change?
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Environment
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 03 Jul 2017
For discussion
With new technologies emerging and transforming working practices, it’s inevitable that the skills and aptitudes required by the industry will change. But the questions are… how, and when?
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Environment
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 25 May 2017
For discussion
The school where you and your children were educated has been at the heart of your community for 30 years. And now it’s been given two weeks to vacate the premises – because someone else is claiming that they own the land it stands on.
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Commercial property
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 15 May 2017
For discussion
The world’s cities are turning into megacities at lightning pace, putting pressure on living space and conditions, zoning and infrastructure. To avoid a dystopian urban nightmare, what forms of leadership do we need in cities and where will this leadership come from?
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Dispute resolution
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 27 Apr 2017
For discussion
Despite efforts to promote a less adversarial culture in construction, disputes are becoming more protracted. Last year’s Arcadis survey of global construction disputes shows they are taking longer to resolve – lasting an average of 13 months, compared to nine in 2010.
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Property technology
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 27 Mar 2017
For discussion
Our world is driven by data. From Google using your search history to return better results, to the complex financial transactions that are protected via blockchain, it shapes, governs and influences every corner of our lives.
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Commercial property
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 27 Feb 2017
For discussion
In our everyday lives, most of us find it relatively easy to judge and conform to appropriate ethical standards, but put any of us into an organisation or company, and everything changes. This is particularly true in business, where leaders, managers and employees face conflicting incentives, messages and pressures from multiple stakeholders.
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Planning & development
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 14 Feb 2017
For discussion
Spending millions on a thing that cannot be moved, no matter what happens, has to be the ultimate statement of confidence in the future. So when it comes to the built environment, confidence is absolutely critical. In fact, without it, we’d all be living in tents.
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Quantity surveying & construction
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 27 Jan 2017
For discussion
Spending millions on a thing that cannot be moved, no matter what happens, has to be the ultimate statement of confidence in the future. So when it comes to the built environment, confidence is absolutely critical. In fact, without it, we’d all be living in tents.
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Quantity surveying & construction
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 01 Dec 2016
For discussion
After a turbulent 12 months that’s seen the UK decide to leave the EU and the US elect the controversial Donald Trump as President, we’re capping off the year with a highly appropriate theme: disruption.
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Quantity surveying & construction
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 28 Oct 2016
For discussion
As we become more and more used to seeing flooding events every year, climate scientists are starting to talk about a ‘new normal’ of frequent floods.
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Residential property
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 24 Oct 2016
For discussion
As business deals become more complex, and more challenged by the variety of cultural norms that we are exposed to in the global marketplace, how can you be sure you are behaving ethically?
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Planning & development
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 27 Sep 2016
For discussion
Across the world, cities are turning into megacities at lightning pace, and in turn compromises are being made in terms of living space and conditions, zoning and infrastructure. To avoid a dystopian urban nightmare, what forms of leadership do we need in cities … and where will this leadership come from?
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Business & management
Journals & magazine Oliver Parsons, 30 Aug 2016
For discussion
The profession is facing a demographic timebomb. With 25% of members reaching retirement age in the next 10 years, and immediate skills shortages in areas such as quantity surveying, teaching the next generation of surveyors has never been more important or urgent.
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Planning & development
Journals & magazine 09 Aug 2016
For discussion
The growth of the global middle class is driving demand for better housing across the world – especially in countries such as China, India and Brazil.