The Big Vision: From Industry 4.0 to 5.0 for a New AEC Sector

The contribution offers an overview of the key concepts of Industry 4.0 and the application of enabling principles and technologies in the AEC sector. In this sense, the most promising possibilities offered by the fourth industrial revolution are analysed, hinging them inextricably around the theme of sustainability, in the broadest sense of the term. Furthermore, the chapter addresses the issue of the transition towards the emerging Industry 5.0, proposing a refocusing of technological advancement in a human-centred and planet-oriented key. Moreover, the foundations are laid for a broader discussion around the issue of training the professional figures who will be called upon to manage such complex, interrelated, and systemic processes. What is prefigured is a new professional figure capable of managing the entire design process with a systemic vision through which human sciences are merged with technological research, embedded into a holistic vision necessary for guaranteeing a future of prosperity and economic progress while ensuring a sustainable tomorrow for our planet.