Demand Surge for Construction
Demographers consistently predict around one billion additional inhabitants of our planet in the next decade. Providing basic housing and infrastructure for these people is estimated to cost between $3 and $10 trillion. Deferred maintenance needs for infrastructure in the developed world will also cost several trillions.
Global Impact
The required construction activity to support this worldwide population increase will involve many constituents, bringing substantial political, economic and social influences. With the aid of new construction project methods and tools, the potential for harmful global environmental impact can be reduced while at the same time increasing economic value.
The kinds of construction projects that exhibit great need for new thinking, and which interest us, are global projects. Global projects are ones that involve individuals, teams and organizations from diverse cultural contexts. Despite many nuanced differences - in scope, scale and sector - all global projects share a common theme: they unify participants from dissimilar societal systems.