The Future of Infrastructure

Expert opinions from around the world on the challenges and opportunities ahead.

This is a pivotal moment in the history of infrastructure. Aging and inadequate networks and systems are holding back economic growth and social prosperity. But change is coming fast. Innovative solutions and new approaches are evolving to provide the tools and resources required to deliver the safe, secure and resilient infrastructure we need. As we enter this new era, the Future of Infrastructure report provides insights from leading industry professionals on what is next in the story of infrastructure.

Foreword

THE FUTURE OF INFRASTRUCTURE

2 minute read

Michael S. Burke
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

aecom

Welcome to this first global research report from AECOM.

As a company focused on building a better world, we are passionate about our work in advancing infrastructure that improves quality of life and prepares us to meet the challenges ahead. Increasingly, we see networks and systems around the world coming under considerable strain. At the same time, as the physical and digital worlds converge, we are also witnessing amazing innovations and new ideas just around the corner. These are testing and exciting times.

As we speak with friends, colleagues and clients in the industry, we hear expressions of worry and optimism, caution and exuberance about what’s ahead. To get an accurate picture of the times and how people think infrastructure may change in the future — or how the future may change infrastructure — AECOM has undertaken this research.

We surveyed more than 500 senior industry decision makers, all of whom work on infrastructure projects valued at more than US$100 million, and we conducted detailed interviews with more than a dozen key figures in our industry. The aim has been to better understand the problems, priorities and potential in delivering major infrastructure projects.

What’s needed is a giant leap forward — focusing the smartest minds, training and deploying more skilled workers and leveraging new digital tools to deliver a better future through infrastructure.

Michael S. Burke
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
aecom
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We think that the findings are compelling. For example, nearly 70 percent of respondents feel that the industry is not evolving fast enough to meet our changing needs; one-third identify a lack of public funding as key to holding up new projects; and eight in 10 believe this is a pivotal time for civil infrastructure.

In addition to hearing from our survey respondents, we have included a number of articles in this report to address many of the key issues raised and to help inform new discussions that can unlock workable, sustainable solutions.

Amid the impacts posed by urbanization, climate change and the dizzying pace of technological advances, merely narrowing the infrastructure gap can no longer be a baseline goal for our industry, our clients and governments. What’s needed is a giant leap forward — focusing the smartest minds, training and deploying more skilled workers, and leveraging new digital tools to deliver a better future through infrastructure.

Success lies in people working together with a shared vision in our industry and beyond. The potential offered by high-quality infrastructure is transformative, and getting it right is everyone’s business.

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Executive Summary

THE FUTURE OF INFRASTRUCTURE

2 minute read

AECOM’s new research comes at a time of unprecedented complexity and transformation, complicated by rapid urbanization, demographic change and the maturing of our digital age.

Growth, progress and change: Why the industry needs to speak up

We find an industry that is unified in its belief that infrastructure will play an important role in shaping the society of the future. Over 80 percent of the more than 500 professionals surveyed agree that national prosperity depends on civil infrastructure.

Respondents also recognize the harm that will be caused if the industry cannot deliver on its promises. Congested roads, unreliable and overcrowded rail services, power outages, drought, flooding, and cyberattacks cost individuals, communities and industries billions of dollars every year.

To encourage greater investment, the infrastructure industry needs to do more to promote the positive contribution that it makes to people’s lives. While government funding remains constrained, it is clear that work, including innovative funding models, is necessary to aid the flow of private money into public projects. More than one-third of global survey respondents cite funding shortages as the number one constraint in getting new projects off the ground.

A pivotal moment for infrastructure

Eight in 10 of the survey respondents agree that this is a pivotal time for civil infrastructure.

The industry must play a vital economic and societal role in supporting technological progress and shaping the communities of tomorrow. Our respondents share a willingness to embrace challenges and to develop fresh approaches to longstanding problems — and this must be done sooner rather than later.

Poor project and program management is also a major concern. A large majority of respondents feel that many tried-and-tested approaches fail to meet the requirements of today’s increasingly vast and complex civil infrastructure programs. A logical inference is that the industry needs to run major infrastructure projects very differently.

In addition to developing new ways of running projects, workforce skills are also clearly a concern. One-quarter of the survey respondents cite skills and talent shortages as obstacles to progress, and about one-fifth say that difficulties sourcing the right talent cause major delays.

Building the resilient future

It is easy to get excited about the future. When considering transportation, for example, we all like to imagine a world of autonomous cars, digital railways that anticipate and help improve reliability, and Hyperloop links to usher in a whole new way of traveling.

Digital technologies and the Fourth Industrial Revolution are providing many of the tools we use; however, in today’s digital world, protection against cyberattacks is one of the most critical aspects of resilience. When asked about the likelihood of certain events in the next five years, survey respondents offer a sobering assessment. About one in three believes that catastrophic events — a major ransomware attack or city-wide transport disruption — are almost certain in the near future.

As a result, we need to upgrade existing networks and systems, as well as create new ones; embrace innovation in the ways we work and the infrastructure we rely on; and ensure that the infrastructure we create is resilient and future proofed to help withstand the shocks and stresses to come.

Change is coming fast. We must leap ahead to build a better world and make sure no one is left behind.

Key findings

Future infrastructure will continue to play an important economic role, but is undervalued outside the industry

More than four-fifths of respondents say that adequate investment in infrastructure projects is crucial to national prosperity.

But they sense that this feeling isn’t reciprocated on a wider level. Almost eight in 10 believe the sector’s positive economic and social contributions are undervalued.

Industry professionals are highly engaged, but they are also frustrated

More than two-thirds feel that the infrastructure industry is not evolving fast enough to meet society’s changing needs.

Their responses reveal that two out of every five major projects run into difficulties, causing serious delays. And only a slim majority of professionals believe they are good at responding to change, streamlining activities and adopting innovative delivery models.

Infrastructure funding shortages are hampering progress

Some 39 percent identify a lack of public funding as the key reason why civil infrastructure is failing to keep pace with society’s needs.

In many cases, this is a result of poor allocation of taxpayers’ money. Nearly one-quarter of survey participants cite poor infrastructure project choices at the national government level as the reason why many new projects never come to fruition.

The industry is experiencing an innovation deficit

Seven in 10 industry professionals say that tried-and-tested approaches are out of sync with the complexities they face. They need new technologies: three-quarters say alternative technical concepts from private contractors provide a great opportunity for innovative solutions.

Innovation is seen as the third most important skill for the future of infrastructure, but it is also the least available within the professional workforce. The workforce must be upskilled.

1. Growth, progress and change: why the industry needs to speak up

THE FUTURE OF INFRASTRUCTURE

2 minute read

More than eight in 10 industry professionals agree that national prosperity depends on civil infrastructure
It is widely acknowledged that the industry is not moving fast enough to meet growing demands
We all need to be more vocal about infrastructure’s positive benefits
There are funding challenges, but they can be overcome with innovative approaches and novel solutions

There is a lack of understanding of how infrastructure is provided and maintained at a government level. People just think, ‘Why aren’t things changing?’

Therese McMillan
Chief Planning Officer
LA Metro
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ARTICLE / FUNDING

The Infrastructure Gap:Financing and Funding the Future

Finding solutions in a resource-constrained environment.

ARTICLE / ACCELERATED DELIVERY

DELIVERING FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE:FASTER, SMARTER AND BETTER

New approaches to delivering future infrastructure.

ARTICLE / RESILIENCE

INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENCE: IN A SHIFTING WORLD

Future proofing and mitigating physical and digital attacks.

2. A pivotal moment for infrastructure

THE FUTURE OF INFRASTRUCTURE

2 minute read

Rapid urbanization and population growth are putting existing networks and systems under strain as demand far outstrips supply
Traditional ways of working are no longer fit for purpose and need to change
Digitization is providing innovative tools and opening up new opportunities, particularly in transportation
With new skills and approaches, the workforce of the future will be more diverse, increasingly collaborative and highly innovative

It's 16 years before High Speed 2 is fully open to Leeds and Manchester. That’s a long time. If you go back 16 years, Apple had just launched the iPod. It seems a lifetime ago. So I think the issue for us is around thinking, ‘Well, what would a railway look like in the 2030s?’

Mark Thurston
Chief Executive Officer
High Speed 2
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ARTICLE / INNOVATION

STRANGER THAN FICTION: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE

Take a trip to a day in the life of 2030.

ARTICLE / SKILLS

SKILLS 2030: SECURING THE TALENT TO BUILD OUR FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE

How to build the future
workforce.

ARTICLE / ACCELERATED DELIVERY

DELIVERING FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE:FASTER, SMARTER AND BETTER

New approaches to delivering future infrastructure.

3. Building the resilient future

THE FUTURE OF INFRASTRUCTURE

2 minute read

Around one-third of industry leaders believe a major cyberattack is almost certain to happen in the near future
A high proportion of infrastructure professionals feel ill equipped to deal with major events
To support economic growth and social prosperity, future proofing and protection against cyber and physical attack are essential
Early investment will help mitigate the significant repair costs after cyber- or climate-related disruptions

Lack of preparedness may put some systems at particular risk. Cyberterrorist groups are playing on the fact that some of our systems are dated and, therefore, not as secure as some of the more modern systems.

Peter Rogoff
Chief Executive Officer
Sound Transit
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