BIG founder Bjarke Ingels is drawing up a masterplan for the Earth to “prove that a sustainable human presence on planet Earth is attainable with existing technologies”.

In an interview with TIME magazine, Ingels went into detail about Masterplanet – BIG’s concept for designing a more sustainable way of living for the world.

Approaching Earth like an architect master planning a city, Ingels calculates that even a predicted population of 10 billion people could enjoy a high quality of life if environmental issues were tackled holistically.

Thinking on the scale of individual buildings isn’t enough, the Danish architect told TIME.

“When you’re building a house, there are a few things you can do — add some solar panels on the roof and so on — but most of it is not very effective,” explained Ingels.

“Every time you go up in scale, you can actually do more.”

According to BIG, only a master planning approach will “prove that a sustainable human presence on planet Earth is attainable with existing technologies” in time to avert total disaster.

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