Construction & Urban Planning

As the world changes and adapts to meet current challenges, so urban spaces around the world are undergoing a deep transformation driven by growing expectations from residents as well as increasing competition between cities vying for reputation and attractiveness; from striving to improve local economic vitality, promoting intermodality and soft mobility, creating public spaces with mixed uses, increasing food autonomy, activating public-private partnerships, not to mention the emergence of Placemaking initiatives allowing local residents to reappropriate public spaces…

At the crossroads of key sustainability challenges, the mobility sector must reinvent itself to move towards greater sustainability and inclusivity; from abating climate impact, promoting collaborative consumption and the advent of the functional economy, promoting intermodality and new, more sustainable modes of mobility to make sustainable cities a reality.

In the age of mass tourism, the tourism sector is faced with a broad range of sustainability challenges which present it with as many opportunities to reinvent itself; from abating the impact of transport (especially air travel) on the climate to reducing the environmental footprint of buildings and leisure activities, maximizing the local economic footprint of tourism activities but also establishing new, more sustainable business models…

From addressing the environmental and health impacts of buildings at every stage of their lifecycle, choosing whether to renovate existing buildings or build new ones, making use of prefabricated options, leveraging rent minimization to optimize energy performance while ensuring accessibility by public transport and considering the impact of building choices on local communities, the social housing sector faces many of the same challenges as the construction industry and few specific ones too, which are as many opportunities for innovation.

From the extraction of raw materials to working conditions or the recycling of waste on construction sites, addressing the impact of buildings on the climate and the environment at every step of their lifecycle, not to mention indoor air quality and the impact of construction on local communities… The challenges the construction sector must face to become more sustainable are many.