Week Four : Thoughts on Future Scenario

Resolving our future scenario this week our group was challenged to imagine the lifestyle of characters in this emerged reality. While our outcome was clear in imagining the overall picture I think we were all overwhelmed by the tangents that our ideas presented. 

In seeking to clarify our group scenario we established the following statement as to underpin further discussion and exploration; Emerging from years of recession the community of Brisbane have relinquished the luxurious lifestyle and have ultimately reassessed their relationship with material objects. Communities have shifted their values and as a result major cultural changes have occurred. The community has begun to embrace a more humble and modest lifestyle returning to fundamental ideals. Our most basic needs of love, nourishment and unity underpin the communal mindset and success is today measured not by what we have but by what we can contribute.

 

To consider more thoroughly what would drive such an emergence is to take account of current trends and challenges affecting the global population. Several of these triggers (detailed more thoroughly at Forum for the Future) include;

- The era of resource scarcity, the current (and projected) demand for natural resources is continually depleting the earth's stocks of virgin resources. In 2002 humanity was already consuming ecological resources 23% faster than the earth can replenish them. Not only will this adversely affect price, supply and business continuity but it will also compel shifts in the urban economy.

- Web-enabled citizen empowerment, ways in which people access information are changing, as is the nature of information businesses make available. Web connectivity in cities is enabling urban dwellers to become more empowered than ever before - as consumers, public service users, community members and even producers. 

- The changing workplace, according to Workwise UK, "work patterns are changing rapidly. Work is becoming more flexible in terms of location, timing and a multitude of other factors causing new work practises to emerge". It is a trend that is likely to have significant implications for business premises and working structure in the future.

- The rise of localism, localism is on the rise - it is shaping the way space is organised in cities, influencing our choice of goods and services. Architects and urban planners are increasingly looking for ways to create mixed-use urban neighbourhoods, with infrastructure designed to maximise its utility to local communities.

With our future scenario established, the question was then posed; what is emerging as social experience and how is that experience shared? What are the people and lifestyles that now exist? The map below provides an insight into the our shared thoughts.

Finding a more succinct expression for these ideas, we imagined four defining concepts that would underpin the everyday experiences of Paddington Central. These included; the marketplace, the co-creation centre, edutainment and the well-being. Each facet exists both as a standalone experience and as a part of the whole picture. Together they form a fusion