Choose your future

It’s 2040, and the city feels not so different from 20 years ago. Daily life is still manageable, but more fragile than it used to be, with stark inequalities. Devastating heatwaves arrive earlier each year; public transport runs, though less reliably; and many services once considered public have shifted into private hands. The city hasn’t collapsed; it has drifted. It is a future built by improvisation and reaction, without a guiding vision for change.

Walk through this city in 2040 and you feel a mix of hope and tension. In some districts, pop-up gardens can be seen in vacant lots and participatory budgeting drives funding for local climate adaptation. In others, aging infrastructure creaks along and change comes in fits and starts. The city has adapted, but unevenly and with compromise. Real improvements exist, but so do trade-offs, compromises, and partial wins.

In 2040, this city feels alive. Buildings breathe with the seasons, public spaces shift use throughout the week, and neighbourhood assemblies make daily decisions. Energy grids are cooperative and open-source. Nature has a seat at the table - sometimes literally, through rights-based councils. Life isn’t perfect; transitions have left some behind, and debates still simmer. But the city thrums with a sense of shared stewardship and connection.

By 2040, cracks in the system have become part of daily life. Power outages roll across neighbourhoods. Water restrictions shape routines. Residents rely more on informal networks than on public institutions. Some streets feel abandoned; others, tense. Hope hasn’t vanished, but the sense of strain is palpable. This is a future where civic trust has disintegrated and cities cannot keep up with need.