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Future Scenarios and Implications for the Industry
Summary
“The world is confronted with many challenges that could impact the well-being and happiness of society. Among the most severe are rapid urbanization, climate change and resource scarcity. The Infrastructure and Urban Development (IU) industry is important in the shaping of a desirable future for our planet. The sector plays a vital role in creating value for society by designing innovative
human- and social-centric solutions. Around the world, 200,000 people a day are migrating to urban areas, where they need healthy, affordable, sustainable housing and infrastructure. However, the buildings and infrastructure assets the industry constructs account for a substantial portion of global greenhouse gas emissions, which are a major cause of climate change. On top of that, the industry is the largest consumer of raw materials, further depleting scarce resources. To address these concerns, the World Economic Forum established the Shaping the Future of Construction project three years ago.”
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| URL: | source |
| PUBLISHER: | World Economic Forum |
| AUTHORS: | |
| GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS: | other |
| PAGE COUNT: | start |
| TOPICS: | 30 infrastructure, and, urban, development, iu |
Methods
“The Future of Construction initiative used scenario planning to mitigate these limitations…The scenarios are not meant to predict the future. Rather, they are an opportunity to foresee the possible outcomes of current trends to be well-prepared for broad variety of possible futures.” (Mutiple workshops took place to create these scenarios.) “…participants identified the most important expected changes in customer requirements and regulations, processes and technologies, and competition and industry structure. From there, they sketched out implications and imperatives that IU companies should follow to address these changes.”
- Qualitative methods used
- Scenarios are developed
- Futures Workshops
- Visioning
Key Insights
Drivers mentioned include:
- Trust is in crisis around the world, which decreases effective collaboration
- Climate Change
- Shifting Demographics
- Increasing Urbanization
- Growing Talent and Infrastructure Gaps
- Increased Volatility and Turmoil in World Politics
- New Digital Technologies applied to the Infrastructure and Urban Development industry (IU) are disruptive