Growing cities and building resilience

The UK as a whole is suffering from a shortage of housing affordable stock, and of the necessary range of types and sizes.

Cities account for 52 per cent of the UK's housing stock, but none of the top 10 cities have increased it in line with their population growth.

This raises a number of important questions, including:

• How do we design a more human city?
• Is more housing at an ever denser level the answer?
• How will engineers ensure the concept of 'community' as population density increases?

To help answer these questions and others, experts from across the built environment set out their views on housing issues.

In increasingly densely populated urban environments, changes to land-use put pressure on natural water cycles, the availability of and access to green spaces, and wider environmental quality.

• How do we balance housing needs with access to green spaces?
• What can we do to restore and maintain natural water cycles in cities?
• What kind of urban environment do people want?

We raise a number of questions, and experts from across the built environment give us their perspective.

One of the most visible signs of a growing urban population is increasingly busy transport networks. It reduces capacity, increases emissions, and potentially changes the type of transport infrastructure required to meet new levels demand.

• Can, or should, the future be car-free?
• How much forward-looking capacity should be designed in?
• How do we future-proof our networks?

We are looking for your input to help answer these question and inform the debate moving forward.

New technology has the capacity to completely change how we build, interact with, and use our urban spaces. Ever increasing amounts of data are being generated, raising questions about who controls it, how much is openly available, and how we use it to make sense of our changing infrastructure requirements.

• What should a smart city look like?
• How will new technologies contribute to sustainability?
• What is the role of the citizen in the increasingly connected urban environment?

Technology will play a major role in shaping the future of our urban spaces, but how can we best apply this? Join the discussion and give your thoughts and opinions.

Air quality in major cities has become a growing concern over the past decade. With a rising population, most major UK cities have seen a considerable increase in vehicle usage and large-scale construction, leading to high levels of airborne pollutants.

To begin solving some of these problems, we must ask important questions, including:

• What role do civil engineers play in combating poor air quality?
• How can we change planning process and policy to lower air pollution?
• How can we ensure a growing city does not mean a worse environment?

The Air Quality Taskforce, led by ICE London, will seek to answer these questions.