New generations ask for new solutions.
Understand the needs arising from demographic change.
Amid the disruption and societal transformations that were brought up by the new technologies and COVID-19, millennials and Gen Z are already dominating the workforce. By 2030, about 58 percent of the global workforce will comprise them. Nevertheless, as members of two generations valuing flexibility, learning, growth, and purpose, millions of these young people are already frustrated with their jobs. […]
As one of the largest and fastest-growing industries in the world, tourism accounts for 10 percent of the global economy and provides one in every 10 jobs. In addition to economic growth, international travel promotes cultural exchange, infrastructure development, social inclusion, and even environmental and wildlife conservation. Nevertheless, all these come with an ecological price: […]
While climate change is a colossal threat to all humanity, women suffer from its consequences most disproportionately and dramatically — and many of these consequences interact with our built environments in some way. According to the United Nations, women make up approximately 80 percent of the people who are displaced from their homes by climate […]
“You can’t really call it land. It’s wetness. It belongs to the river,” says Marina Tabassum, talking to The Guardian about the Ganges Delta of her native Bangladesh, widely recognized as being acutely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Architecture has come to symbolize durability and stability for most of the world’s cities and towns. But in Bangladesh, […]
The concept of an office originates in the 5th-century monasteries, where monks lived to copy, translate, and preserve religious texts. The workspaces in these monasteries were very simple writing rooms, known as “scriptorium” in Latin, which included a table. Chairs weren’t even in the picture until Renaissance. The word “office” comes from a building called the […]
Japan is arguably going through the biggest demographic challenge of modern history. After lingering around zero growth at the beginning of the 21st century, Japan‘s population has continued to shrink since 2010, with the decline rate accelerating in recent years. In 2022, the island nation, with a population of about 125 million, recorded its largest decline due to the combination […]
Nobody knows who invented doors, but the oldest ones appear in Egyptian tomb paintings from 4,000 years ago, where they signified a passage to the afterlife. In many of the world’s mythological stories, most beloved fairytales, and in popular culture, doors represent openings, journeys, transformations, opportunities, and sometimes, obstacles and mystery. As they’re steeped in cultural and symbolic […]
In 2022, Vienna grabbed the top spot in the Global Livability Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). For this picture-perfect Central European city famous for its legacy in classical music, baroque architecture, and coffeehouse culture, the top ranking didn’t come as a surprise. “Stability and good infrastructure are the city’s main charms for its […]
As our world moves towards Industry 4.0, manufacturing requires fewer resources in terms of raw materials, energy, and space. Hence, particularly in advanced economies, an increasing number of factories and industrial buildings are losing their relevance and lie abandoned. But especially given the sheer size of these vacant sites, can they still add value outside traditional […]
Water is the source of all life on earth. It’s essential for our health, environment, and economies. However, given its importance, water isn’t as abundant as one might imagine. While bodies of water cover most of the earth’s surface, only one percent of it is freshwater that’s available and safe for us to drink. According to the UN-Water, […]
There’s no way to sugarcoat the economic devastation the aviation sector has suffered during the pandemic: In 2020, airlines bled a loss of USD 168 billion. For comparison, this was the equivalent of the gross domestic product of the entire country of Greece in the same year. While uncertainties concerning the COVID-19 pandemic linger, thanks to rising global immunization […]
Given the unprecedented numbers of older persons in cities, urban areas must meet the changing demands. Our cities must become “age-ready"