AECOM launches third annual global report, The Future of Infrastructure: Creating Opportunity for Everyone

This year’s report demonstrates how investment in infrastructure has the power to alleviate today’s economic and social distress, and create opportunities for generations to come.

LOS ANGELES (May 28, 2020) — AECOM, the world’s premier infrastructure firm, today released its third annual global infrastructure report, The Future of Infrastructure: Creating Opportunity for Everyone. The report illustrates the essential role infrastructure plays in addressing society’s most complex challenges through critical themes, including economic stimulus, funding, social value, innovation, resilience, climate change, sustainability and adapting for a post-pandemic world.

In response to the ongoing global coronavirus outbreak, our experts share insights on how to achieve both the immediate recovery needs of communities seeking safe and efficient ways to return to work and school, resume travel and deliver improved healthcare systems. The report also captures how to advance the longer-term opportunities for infrastructure investment to strengthen economies and help build more resilient societies.

“As countries begin to adjust to a world transformed by the devastating impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Future of Infrastructure report can be a guide for governments and policy-makers looking for solutions to best respond to quality of life, operational and economic challenges on the path to recovery,” said Michael S. Burke, AECOM’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Infrastructure and new infrastructure investment can play important roles in accelerating economic recovery, making us more resilient, and reestablishing the connections between people that make us stronger.”

From response and recovery to reimagination, The Future of Infrastructure: Creating Opportunity for Everyone outlines innovative ideas and approaches to deliver a better world through infrastructure. Key articles include:

The Future is Now: Infrastructure’s Role in Economic Recovery
AECOM Chairman and CEO Mike Burke explores infrastructure’s important role in recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and ensuring greater resilience to future global shocks.

How to Reopen Airports in a Post-Coronavirus World
AECOM Executive Vice President and Director of Global Aviation Bijan Pashanamaei and AECOM EMEA Managing Director of Global Aviation Richard Gammon examine ways the travel industry, and airports in particular, can restore passenger confidence by making travel safe again.

Net Zero Heroes: Exemplary Projects Winning the Battle on Carbon Reduction
AECOM Director of Sustainable Development Robert Spencer and AECOM Principal and Director of Sustainable Development Claire Bonham-Carter examine projects to reduce carbon emissions that could have a huge impact on the health of our planet, if implemented more widely.

Cultivating Innovation in Risk-Averse Industries
Given the budgets and timescales involved in the delivery of big infrastructure projects, it’s not surprising the industry has traditionally prioritized operational excellence over innovation. AECOM Vice President of Digital & Innovation Orla Pease and APAC’s Chief Digital Innovation Officer Colette Munro make the case that innovation is needed to stay competitive.

Moving Cities – Lessons in Building for a Better Future
As Indonesia prepares to change locations of its capital city, AECOM Southeast Asia’s Vice President of Strategy & Growth Scott Dunn and AECOM Buildings + Places’ Vice President of Strategies and Development Sylvester Wong shares lessons learned from other cities that will help Kalimantan meet the needs of tomorrow’s generations.

Paying it Forward: Why Resilience is a Rising Priority
AECOM Executive Vice President Stephen Engblom and Milken Institute Senior Director of Innovative Finance Caitlin MacLean write about how achieving resilience has become an urgent and strategic imperative for cities.

Private Financing of Infrastructure: Serving the Public Interest as well as Profits
AECOM Director of Strategic Advisory Shamit Gaiger and AECOM Senior Vice President of North America and Strategic Development Director for Public-Private Partnerships Samara Barend argue that private investors need to show how they will serve the public interest — not just with policymakers, but also with taxpayers and those who stand to benefit from the infrastructure.

To download The Future of Infrastructure: Creating Opportunity for Everyone, please visit infrastructure.aecom.com.

About AECOM
AECOM is the world’s premier infrastructure firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from planning, design and engineering to consulting and construction management. We partner with our clients in the public and private sectors to solve their most complex challenges and build legacies for generations to come. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, governments, energy and the environment, our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm with revenue of approximately $20.2 billion during fiscal year 2019. See how we deliver what others can only imagine at aecom.com and @AECOM.