Here’s What Building the Future Looks Like for a 10-Billion-Person Planet

If you live or work in a city, then you probably see the impact of growing urbanization every day—gridlock traffic, construction cranes peppering the skyline, soaring housing costs. Sure, these are major challenges and annoyances for city dwellers, but they also represent a huge opportunity for the global architecture, engineering, and construction industry: one that requires building the future for a 10-billion-person planet.

Did you know that before this day is over, 200,000 people will have packed up their belongings and moved from a rural area into a major city? And that by 2050, the draw of urban life will bring more than two-thirds of the global population into cities?

It’s the job of architects, engineers, and contractors to imagine, develop, and deliver the residential, social, and economic buildings for the global population. That’s an enormous undertaking. Autodesk partnered with the market-research firm, Statista, to explore the numbers. Here’s your snapshot of what’s on the horizon and the massive global opportunity ahead.