Changing Waterways:Kanal Istanbul

A view of Istanbul and the Bosphorus, a navigable channel of water which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara as seen from an airplane flying over Istanbul, November 2012. The Bosphorus is considered the physical and geographical boundary between Europe and Asia. (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

From the damages wrought by Hurricane Sandy along the East Coast in October 2012, to the construction of the biggest building in the world in China, every new year brings dramatic changes to the face of the earth. While it's impossible to predict the future, we can say with certainty that in 10 years, Earth will be a different place than it is now. In the following pages we explore some of the most monumental engineering and architecture projects that are underway for the coming years.

When Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan first proposed a plan for a canal that would run parallel to the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey, forming a 30-mile-long passage between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, it was called crazy. Yet the project, which has been compared to the Suez and Panama Canals, has been moving forward. The Bosphorus Strait, which divides Turkey into European and Asian halves, is used by around 50,000 vessels per year, reported the BBC. From gas tankers to naval vessels and shipping containers, it's a perpetually busy waterway -- and the only body of water connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. With Erdogan's new project, called Kanal Istanbul, the Bosphorus would become the site of water sports and recreational activities, said the Guardian, because commercial vessels will be able to travel along the new canal that will be built to the west of the Bosphorus.

Despite the benefits of the project, the canal could have a major impact on the region's hydrography, warned The Atlantic, since the Black Sea is colder and less salty than the Mediterranean. If the canal is completed in time for Turkeys 100th anniversary in 2023, it will certainly be a monumental feat of engineering and inarguably alter the surrounding countries.

NEXT: An artificial island museum

Changing Islands: Pingtan Art Museum

An artist rendering of the PingTan Art Museum, to be built in China. (Credit: MAD Architects)

The largest private art museum in Asia will need more than just a lot of space to be built -- it's going to take its own island. Designed to be constructed on an artificial island that's connected to another artificial island in the Fujian province of China, the Pingtan Art Museum was designed by the MAD architect firm in China. According to the Telegraph, the city that will surround the Pingtan Art Museum doesn't actually exist yet -- it's still in the planning process and has no specific finish date. The museum itself, which is in the construction phase, will imitate the surrounding environment and look similar to ancient caves on the interior. According to the MAD website, the museum "will create a new space for the city and the city's inhabitants and further inspire them to reflect on the impact made by time and nature."

NEXT: A train that could travel at the speed of sound

Changing Transportation:Hyperloop

An image released by Tesla Motors, is a sketch of the Hyperloop capsule with passengers onboard. (AP Photo/Tesla Motors)

Entrepreneur Elon Musk is known for his high-tech, sci-fi ideas -- sending tourists to space, getting the U.S. hooked on electric cars -- yet he is equally well-known for succeeding in many of his projects. The proposed Hyperloop, however, is a long way from coming to fruition. The Hyperloop is Musk's idea for an ultra high-speed rail line that would allow passengers to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in about 35 minutes, which would mean traveling at speeds close to 700 mph, said CNN, which is almost as fast as the speed of sound. The designs for the Hyperloop look like something out of the Jetsons, with 400 miles of tubes through which capsules cushioned by pressurized air would travel. According to the plans that Musk published on the Tesla website, the capsules would be rocketed along by magnetic linear accelerators, which in turn would be powered by solar energy.

As ingenious as the idea seems, there are a number of a major flaws with the design, including the temperature of the pressurized air, which could damage the capsules; pressure from the wind; and the cost of buying land to build the Hyperloop, reported the Telegraph. There's also the fact that Musk has no way of protecting the Hyperloop from earthquakes. And, "there's no conceivable way that the system would cost just six billion dollars, or that one-way tickets would cost 20 dollars," says the New Yorker. For now, the Hyperloop might just be a dream of what transportation may eventually come to be, but it could also be inspiration for a future form of travel.

NEXT: A city in the sky

Changing Skylines: Sky City

This picture taken on July 20, 2013 shows people attending the groundbreaking ceremony of the 'Sky City' building, to be the world highest building with a total height of 838 meters, in Changsha, central China's Hunan province. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

China has its fair share of superlative architecture these days, and now the country is vying for the title of tallest building in the world with the construction of Sky City, projected to be 838 meters tall (2,749 feet), just 10 meters taller than the current tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. According to CNN, the even more remarkable aspect of the project is that it's hoped to be completed by next summer, in less than a year. The company in charge of the skyscraper, Broad Group, has boasted that it will overcome all obstacles to complete the building, reported the Economic Times. But Quartz said it's unclear how the company will pay for the $1.47 billion costs of constructing the Sky City, since the company's 2011 revenue was only $650 million. The Sky City might also be at least partially empty once it is built, since its location in Changsha is a much smaller urban center than Beijing or Shanghai, where China's current tallest building, the Shanghai Tower, resides.

NEXT: The world of outer space

Changing Space: International Space Station

Undoubtedly one of the greatest human achievements of the 20th century was our journeying beyond the Earth's atmosphere and into space, and the International Space Station is one of the products of this exploration. The station is the largest human-built object constructed in space and was made in cooperation by 15 different countries. Since 2000, the station has been continuously inhabited by astronauts from various countries, and although construction on it finished in 2011, the International Space Station provides a vision of what the future could look like. According to Discovery, the ISS is funded through 2020, and there is the possibility of commercial enterprises joining with the station. Furthermore, NASA spokespeople have said that the International Space Station could be used as a springboard for a trip to a nearby asteroid or even to Mars by the 2030s, reported Space.com. Although the ISS itself may not be on Earth, its existence has a direct impact on the future of our world.

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Tourists walk among the ruins of the Machu Picchu citadel, Cusco, Peru on July 6, 2011. (Cris Bouroncle/AFP/Getty Images)