Abstract: How did our Solar System and other planetary systems form? Which systems are most likely to host habitable worlds? These are critical questions as we plan for missions capable of detecting Earth analogues and search for atmospheric signatures of life. I will discuss how linking multi-wavelength observations of disks around young stars and exoplanet demographics shed light on these questions. First, I will present evidence for a dominant mechanism to form giant planets. Next, I will summarize an ongoing effort to constrain how the most common planets, sub-Neptunes and super-Earths, form and evolve. I will conclude by discussing how upcoming facilities will further these studies and their role in reconstructing the paths to habitable worlds.
