We need to protect ourselves from the elements to survive, but buildings are about so much more than just shelter. They also give us privacy, community and identity. However buildings are big contributors to climate change. When they are built, setting concrete gives off carbon dioxide directly and making and transporting all the other building materials uses energy which inevitably results in more carbon dioxide released.

Even after we move in, there are important environmental impacts from how we live. Generating electricity and heating our homes gives off lots of carbon dioxide. But changes in building materials and design and careful choices of electrical appliances and power stations can reduce this impact.

And how we build our neighbourhood has crucial environmental consequences too - should we be close to the shops, have parks on every street corner or build high rises and leave the rest of the land as natural green space?

In the Building area you can feel some new building materials and get advice from Buz, Eco, Tek and Dug as you design your own 2050 home before you discover some interesting new communities proposed by architects around the world.

Find out more about buildings, power, resources and climate change