About this guide
Digital technologies are changing all facets of our lives. They shape how we interact with one another, how we work, how we move around, how we shop, how we entertain ourselves, and what we consume.
We are entering what many are calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution – sometimes referred to as “Industry 4.0”. This is predicted to be just as disruptive as the advent of the steam engine in the first industrial revolution, the rise of mass production and electricity in the second, and personal computing in the third.
Industry 4.0 is growing in an era that is characterised by digital technologies being overlaid and integrated with the physical world, and changing how we connect, understand and negotiate our environments, from our homes to our cities.
The boundaries between the digital and built environments are becoming blurred, and this has significant consequences for how the built world will be designed, managed and operated. New workplace skills and capabilities will be required, some of which do not even exist yet.