Global Cities – opportunities and challenges for major projects

There were 1.75 billion people on the planet in 1910; today there are 7 billion, and by 2050 the UN estimates that the global population will peak at around 9 billion. In 2007, over 3 billion people lived in cities; half of the world’s population. In only 40 years that will double to 6 billion living in cities.

Such unprecedented growth will place extreme pressures on the urban environment, with attendant societal challenges. How can global cities cope? What role could major projects play? How will these growth pressures impact on major project initiation?

Will it be possible to think and work smarter, with a more intelligent environment that will become better interconnected and more responsive to the significant changes to overall infrastructure in its broadest sense? We have seen massive investment in the Middle East and Asia Pacific, the development and continuing growth of conurbations and cities, giant steps in technology generally and greater expectations fuelled by social media. The real opportunity is to continue the learning process and to examine how the lessons learnt can be properly adopted, not just for growing and developing cities but also for cities that have been well established and developed for hundreds of years.

This seminar will address the different challenges faced in rapidly expanding global cities in developing economies and those where expansion can be planned and possibly affordable. The Chairman and Speakers are going to share their experiences and approaches to assisting and catering for rapid growth, and develop the opportunities and challenges for major projects across the diverse range of global cities – established world cities, those being planned and delivered in places like the Middle East and SE Asia, and those that continue to grow ad-hoc as peoples migrate from rural areas to conurbations.