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Climate change is altering rainfall patterns, and making both floods and drought more frequent and more extreme. To survive and thrive in the 21st century, we need to rethink our relationship with water and the way we manage this most precious of resources
Urban green spaces are suffering in a changing climate, just as communities have begun to value them more than ever. How can city authorities channel this enthusiasm to make public parks and gardens more resilient?
By 2050, global cities could produce 3.88 billion tonnes of waste every single year — unless we do something about it. Can the circular economy save us from drowning in our own wastefulness?
The modern world has left a legacy of polluted land and wasted materials, but the science of remediation is developing rapidly, and helping to unlock hidden value. Could yesterday’s trash be tomorrow’s treasure?
Humankind’s most useful invention has become its biggest problem, and one that just won’t go away. What can we do about plastic?
Waste has always had a disproportionate impact on low-income communities, but social and environmental goals don’t always align neatly. How can we clean up past mistakes, and create a fairer future?
Water infrastructure is often underground out of sight. New digital tools can make the invisible visible, and offer a solution to the perennial problem of leaking pipes
Major users can no longer take water for granted. Climate change is forcing companies to confront an array of heightened risks — from shortages and flooding, to reputational damage and conflict with neighbours
Aotearoa New Zealand is taking a radical approach to water management — based on Māori principles that prioritize the health of water above all other needs
High-containment labs are among the world’s most secure buildings. Three teams take on the challenge of making them into smarter workplaces
We can’t build a net-zero world without using steel and concrete, and these industries are relying on the same limited pool of green resources as many others to decarbonize. In this series, The Possible explores the tough choices ahead
As things stand, almost all decarbonization roads eventually lead to CCUS technology. But there are currently fewer than 30 plants operational worldwide. So how do we get from here to net-zero?
We could — and should — grow more trees. But that won’t be anywhere near enough to avert the climate crisis. We need to look further than nature-based offsets, and perhaps more closely at forests themselves
Hydrogen could help many of the world’s most carbon-intensive processes to reach net-zero — just as long as we can decarbonize the production of hydrogen itself
There’s no getting round it: to decarbonize the world’s power supply, we are going to have to “spend” a lot of carbon in the process. But there are ways we can reduce the size of the bill
The production of cement and steel requires huge amounts of energy. We can’t do without them, but can they ever be zero-carbon?
Three teams come up with solutions for greening essential — but not necessarily attractive — infrastructure
Additive architecture has a mixed history, and pods are not exactly suited to creating open spaces, but plug-in buildings may offer other advantages
Heritage buildings are often masters of reinvention — what can today’s designers learn from them?
Different parts of a building evolve at different speeds, so it makes sense to keep them separate
An adaptable overlay of smart modes could help buildings to remain useful for longer
More than ever, we need buildings that can bend to whatever the future brings. But flexibility itself has always been a malleable concept. Can it be pinned down?
Data is the most powerful weapon we have against future crises
The pandemic poses new challenges and some very big questions
How we can optimize the environment to give employees the normalcy they are seeking, while implementing new policies and procedures?
The fusion of building tech, smartphones and wearables could make the post-pandemic workplace not just possible, but much, much better
Digital technologies can enable healthier, safer, more efficient buildings – and leverage assets that owners may not realize they have
Designing for wellbeing supports infection control now, but also resilience to future epidemics, writes building wellness specialist Meike Borchers
Vertical transportation is what makes multi-storey buildings possible. So what happens when enclosed spaces, push buttons and efficiency become the problem rather than the solution?
The health and safety landscape has changed completely for businesses, writes safety specialist Doug Crann
Strategies that will improve resilience in offices, and those that won’t
Safety and reassurance will be paramount when we eventually return to work
Three engineers offer solutions to a developer’s challenge