Strategic priorities for research in the built environment

Research institutions must project trends and identify expectations for the world one or two decades into the future as a necessary initial step to producing a comprehensive agenda for research in the built environment. This article reviews a handful of government policy papers and privately-authored forecasts regarding population growth, climate change, energy usage and reserves, political structures, and technological advances. From this review, one can construct an understanding of the world in 2020. From this wide perspective, a more specific portrait of the future that focuses upon the built environment can be devised. By developing an understanding of the major issues of the future, one can identify which problems and challenges will require attention. These steps lead one to formulation of a research agenda for the present that is likely to position an institution for leadership in the future. Key trends for the year 2020 include population growth and migration, political maneuvering and destabilization over energy resources, increase of costs for health care, global warming and consequent disruption to population locations and agriculture, and run away technological innovation. For those focused on the built environment, these trends suggest a research agenda that includes energy efficiency, coastal planning, resource conservation, improved and accelerated construction, revised regulatory and contractual structures, and cognitive science and information technology.