Population and climate forecasts, evolving community needs, and how and where people live and work are just some influences that infrastructure planners must consider.
Yet it is impossible to accurately predict how these factors will change over time - the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that.
It is a clear demonstration of how rapidly assumptions about the future can shift, and how challenging it is to predict the likelihood and timing of extreme events that can influence daily behaviours, health and economic conditions.
However, determining likely future scenarios based on the best available information is critical to infrastructure planning to ensure the outcomes are fit for the future.
As Australia's infrastructure is long-lived, the decisions we make now impact on the quality of service communities receive into the future. This means that infrastructure must be planned, built and managed to adapt to a range of likely future scenarios.