Future Build: How Construction Can Heal Our Planet

By Will Arnold

A startling exposé of the huge environmental costs of the construction industry and an urgent and powerful manifesto for how to build without destroying the planet

What if every time we built a building, the world became a better place? Not just for the people who would live, work or learn inside it, but for all life on Earth. What if construction could be an act of restoration – healing nature, reversing climate breakdown and cleaning up the waste and pollution choking our one and only home? 

Right now, that’s not happening. There is a dark irony in the fact that the construction of the buildings we create to protect us from heat, storms and rising seas are fuelling those very threats. It’s a vicious cycle – and one that most people remain blissfully unaware of.   

Yet solutions already exist. The knowledge, technology and designs required to reverse this trend are all within reach; what is missing is widespread awareness and the confidence to demand better. In FUTURE BUILD, the environmentalist and structural engineer Will Arnold reveals the hidden environmental cost of construction, showcases the buildings that are already reshaping what is possible, and offers a blueprint for creating places that heal rather than harm.