Residential and commercial development in the next quarter-century will eclipse anything seen in previous generations as the nation moves to accommodate rapid population growth, according to a Brookings Institution report Monday. About half the homes, office buildings, stores and factories that will be needed by 2030 don’t exist today, says Arthur C. Nelson, author of the report for the think tank in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. population is expected to increase 33% to 376 million by 2030, according to Nelson’s analysis. That’s 94 million more people than in 2000. Buildings Go Up Like Never Before

This population forecast suggests troubling times ahead for urban and regional planners.  How do we prudently accommodate such growth while maintaining the integral components of our cities and towns?  The legendary Constantinos Doxiadis championed the theory of Ecumenopolis (the universal city).  According to Doxiadis, “Cities, growing dynamically over the next two or three generations, will finally interconnect, in one continuous network, into one universal city which we call the ecumenic city, the city of the inhabited earth, or Ecumenopolis.” At first I found this concept to be far-fetched (considering that most of the world is urbanizing, not suburbanizing like the US), however, as witnessed by the nation’s sprawling megalopolises, I’m starting to believe that this is, in fact, a possibility (at least in the US).  Needless to say, this change will certainly have a dynamic impact on the built (and natural) environment. 

Visit the Brookings Institution for the full report.