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. Since then, the initiative has successfully served as a platform
for Forum Partners, governments, academia and civil society to shape the industry’s agenda and find
innovative solutions to support the industry’s transformation and enhance productivity, sustainability
and affordability.
In the initial two-year phase of the project, we prepared a guide for industry transformation and shared
lessons learned from leading innovators. At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017 in
Davos-Klosters, the Governors of the Infrastructure and Urban Development community renewed a
strong mandate and requested that we analyse how technological change is disrupting the industry
and what implications that has for business strategy, organizational design, including talent and skills,
financing and risk allocation.
This report is the culmination of that work. During the project’s third and final year, we examined
what the IU industry could look like in the future and the strategic implications of that for the key
stakeholders and broader society. The outlined transformation imperatives should help the IU industry
prepare for a prosperous future.
We would like to thank and acknowledge the Forum Partner companies that served on the initiative’s
steering committee: foremost engineering and construction, chemicals, building materials, real estate,
urban services and technology firms, and the many experts who served on the initiative’s advisory
committee. We hope the strategic dialogues held in the workshops upon which this report is based
support stakeholders’ efforts to prepare for a challenging but promising future while securing and
enhancing the well-being and happiness of society