I believe that in the near Future, humans are going to want to live in decentralized, self-sufficient, and sustainable ecosystems / habitats.
While this image portends some element of a dystopia where community as we know it fundamentally breaks down, I'm convinced there's massive opportunity for designers, technologists and storytellers within this new Renaissance!
Post our COVID experience, and with the increasing reality of climate impact, people may begin retreating from noisy, natural-disaster prone urban areas. Armed with 1) the internet, 2) decentralized energy systems, 3) localized agri-practices, and 4) eco-building materials - a big wave of people will look to create their own 'Walden' experience and that too without trading luxury or work-opportunity.
As these people move to smaller, integrated communes, designers and sustainability practitioners can position themselves for this New World by ensuring that their solutions (or combinations of solutions) are:
Obvious- ly required in the new habitat (Great Storytelling)
Easy - to start using by the resident (Great Design)
Attractive - ly valued (Great Economics)
Satisfying - in utility (Great Psychology)
These also just happen to be the 4-steps for building new habits! I'm digging the extrapolation of habit design onto our Future design.
Here's an example of this kind of habitat in Surat, India that I'm inspired by :)
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