Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the perfect storm of imperfect zoning laws, low construction productivity, and population increases have created housing shortages and price escalation that make it impossible for many families to find decent and affordable homes. And this is not just a Bay Area issue, lack of affordable housing is a challenge worldwide. It’s one of the key capacity challenges we’ve highlighted where technology and new processes can create new opportunities for doing things better.
Our global population is expected to grow by nearly 30 percent in the next 30 years, closing in on 10 billion people by 2050. With 75 percent expected to live in cities, we need to build more housing quickly and within the fundamental limitations of the planet. 13,000 buildings per day will need to be built to accommodate this rapid growth. We need to support companies implementing innovative solutions to this growing problem.
Autodesk is doing just that. Today we announced our investment in Factory_OS, a company that is dramatically improving the way to design and build housing that is more affordable.