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Le monde a changé en l'espace d'une décennie.

Le monde a changé en l'espace d'une décennie.
The world changed within the space of a decade.
From Lesson 338:Short durations (en l'espace de)·French

Questions & Answers about Le monde a changé en l'espace d'une décennie.

How does en l'espace de differ from just using en for time?
While en une décennie simply states that the change took ten years to happen, adding l'espace de emphasizes the containment or the surprising brevity of that time. It translates well to "within the short span of" or "in the space of," adding a dramatic flair to how much the world changed.
Could I use the word décade instead of décennie for "decade"?
No, this is a classic false friend! In French, une décennie means a period of ten years. The word une décade actually refers to a period of ten days. If you used it here, you would be saying the world changed in just a week and a half!
Why does changer use avoir as its auxiliary verb here? Isn't it a verb of state or change?
Unlike some verbs of transformation or state change (such as devenir or mourir) which require être, the verb changer almost always takes avoir in the compound past tenses. This is true whether it has a direct object or, as in this sentence, it is just the subject changing intrinsically.
Can I use en l'espace de to talk about physical space, like "in the space of the room"?
No, despite containing the word espace (space), the phrase en l'espace de is used exclusively for time and duration in French. For physical containment, you would simply use dans or à l'intérieur de.

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