The global construction industry needs to build 13,000 buildings each day between now and 2050 to support an expected population of 7 billion people living in cities (10 billion worldwide). But while the need for new housing, schools, and hospitals is paramount, buildings are only half of the story.
The world’s communities are connected with vast infrastructure networks that support and sustain human life, and there’s a pressing need to build a lot more of them. The Global Infrastructure Outlook report forecasts a need for $94 trillion in infrastructure investment in the next 20 years alone.
As cities grow, new roads, highways, railways, and airports will be crucial to minimize urban traffic congestion and replace aging infrastructure. Urban centers and suburbs also need new power grids and expanded freshwater and sewage systems—especially in rapidly growing developing countries with limited infrastructure. To put it in perspective, the amount of infrastructure that needs to be built or rebuilt every year could stretch to the moon and back more than 25 times.
Autodesk partnered with market-research firm Statista to explore the numbers and see just how large of an opportunity infrastructure is. Learn more about the jaw-dropping results in the infographic below.
Vanessa Bertollini is the director of thought leadership strategy and programs at Autodesk. She started her career writing and editing technical documents for an engineering firm and has been translating for engineers ever since.
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