Urbanization & Digitalization

Building to house the population of tomorrow

More than half of the global population lives in cities and the number is growing rapidly. While most of the urban population growth will take place in Africa and Asia, it is also foreseen to continue growing in Europe, increasing from 74% today to about 84% in 2050 according to the UN. It is clear that we need to increase the available housing in urban conglomerations around the world. 

That is why the Urban Agenda for the EU was launched in May 2016 with the Pact of Amsterdam. It stimulates cooperation between stakeholders to realise growth, liveability and innovation in the cities of Europe, while also addressing social challenges. 

 

A holistic approach at the overall energy performance of a building

The AAC industry supports this initiative wholeheartedly as its products are among the building blocks for increased urbanization.

Many of our industry’s efforts revolve around a question how to build affordable highly efficient buildings, also called near Zero Energy Buildings. We need a holistic approach that looks at the overall energy performance of a building, to achieve highly energy efficient buildings. The use of on-site or district-level renewable energy is required to create cost-optimal solutions. Moving away from individual solutions towards the district level can further optimise these solutions and provide more flexibility to adapt to local conditions.

Readying our urban spaces for the needs of tomorrow

Urbanisation has made cities the focal point for our economies and societies. Knowledge intensive economies with increasing resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions have the opportunity to grow into more sustainable and smarter living and working environments through digitalisation. Smart solutions can improve citizens‘ quality of life, while increasing innovation and competitiveness of our industry.

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