When AI becomes a part of the everyday life of building environment experts, Arup's Tom Wilcock argues that embracing experiments that balance with risk can help solve some of the biggest challenges from sustainability to recruiting next-generation engineers, architects and planners.
In two and a half years since Chat GPT was made public, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has captured the imagination of the people, moved to the centre of the corporate agenda, opening a new front in geopolitics.
The incredible possibilities of current generation models, and the speed at which they are improving, have created enthusiastic excitement and concern.
Behind the glamour and headlines, it's easy to overlook the impact AI is already having within the economy.
AI is now being discovered not only in management tasks, but also in the daily activities of engineers, architects and planners around the world as part of the core design process. From streamlining design workflows to helping to optimize energy efficiency, AI is rapidly adopted in ways that rebuild cities and infrastructure.
Solve important issues
As urban areas face growing challenges from climate change, AI tools are helping urban planners embrace new approaches to water management that integrate natural dimensions into urban systems design.
This is only possible for features created by machine learning in conjunction with satellite images. Together, these techniques allow planners to consider solutions that go through many scales, from planting local trees to managing local watersheds. A similar approach can help assess and address urban thermal island challenges.
Importantly, these approaches go beyond diagnosis. These allow for integrated early stage design decisions. This helps designers and planners not only minimize harm, but also create infrastructure that actively supports the environment, supports biodiversity, and enhances urban resilience.
Decarbonization of the sector
To explore AI attitudes and recruitment in our industry, Arup commissioned a global survey of 5,000 experts working in a built environment.
The results show that a third of UK engineers and architects now use AI in high-level ways, often daily, to support their efforts on climate action and biodiversity.
But while intake is clearly growing, the conversation about AI adoption is changing. It's no longer possible to use AI or not. It's about how well you use it.
In a sector where embodied carbon is a major component of the project's footprint, AI enables the industry to take a more sustainable path. Advanced AI and engineering analytics are used to assess the structural integrity and future lifespan of critical infrastructures, from offshore wind farms to pros bridges. These insights allow you to safely assess and extend the lifespan of assets.
This technology has also revolutionized the early design process. Incorporating AI into your approach helps teams solve multiple factors simultaneously and promote low-carbon design options by enabling teams to quickly test and refine design options.
Next Generation
Easy-to-access AI is changing the way next-generation engineers and designers approach their roles. Consumer applications such as ChatGpt, Claude, Midjourney, and Deepseek have made it possible for more viewers to access sophisticated AI. This has been enhanced by recent developments in inference models. This allows creative thinkers to experiment, prototype and solve problems in ways that were previously out of reach.
AI availability not only accelerates innovation, but also stimulates new waves of talent, making you think bigger, more systematic, and sustainable from the start. Rather than silence in narrow roles, emerging experts are empowered to work in academic disciplines, test ideas instantly and make data-driven decisions early in the design process.
These tools do not replace creativity. They amplify it. In doing so, they are helping to shape generations of better equipped practitioners to address the urgent challenges of climate, equity and resilience through better design.
Looking ahead
The outcome of decisions made by engineers and designers can have a significant impact. For organizations working in built environments, embracing the culture of experimentation is essential, but it requires a clear understanding of risks to be balanced.
Design responsibilities must remain with the experts and make it clear that they will find new ways to safely test, iterate and extend ideas.
When combined with high quality data and deep domain knowledge, AI can become a powerful enabler of new solutions. At Arup, we have long believed in the power of technology to enhance human creativity and tackle complex problems. On the right hand, AI can catalyze a smarter, fairer, and more sustainable future.
