Rethinking the city
Imagining futures
Futures for everyone
Brussels for everyone
The future starts today
Rethinking the city
Imagining futures
Futures for everyone
Brussels for everyone
The future starts today
Some of the questions that arose during the worldbuilding and futures fiction lab, that was inspired by some practices of Elise Boulding.
If we approach peace making in the 200 year present, going back 100 years from now (think of your grandparents and great grandparents), and then going 100 years into the future (think of your or other grandchildren and great grandchildren)… what do we see, hear and think?
What is peace? What does a continuum between peace and conflict mean?
How has the meaning of peace changed over time? What are peace making practices today? What were they back then? What will they be in the future?
What was the peace our grandparents were striving for? What disturbed peace in the past? How does it make us reflect on peace today?
What is peace if it is not the absence of conflict? Is peace opening up space for dealing with conflict? Is peace a privilege? How can we share this privilege?
Does peace mean the same thing for everyone? Does one persons’ experience of peace disrupt others’ peace?
Can we pass on peace making practices intergenerationally? Are we born in peace?
What is the role of a city in ensuring peace for everyone? What does it mean to live peacefully together? How does urban infrastructure influence peace? How will increasing density of the city impact its peacefulness? How to do conflict resolution in diverse cities?
How does peace relate to safety?
What does peace mean for other species? How does peace relate to our relationship with other species?
What is the rhythm of peace? How does it feel?
What is peace in a digital world? How does technology influence peace? Is conflict and peace different in online versus offline communities? What technologies are available to deal with conflict and peace and peace mediation?
How do we educate peace making practices? What is the role of family in peace? How will new family situations influence peace in 2048?
What will be the impact of the climate crisis on peace?
How do newcomers versus old Brusselèirs deal with conflict and peace? How can we help people with war trauma? How will Brussels be impacted by global conflict?
Are there wars in 2048? If yes between whom, about what? How is warfare?
Who will be the global powers in 2048? What is the position of Europe? What is its impact on peacemaking?
The following characters are developed during two days of worldbuilding around possible futures of peace and peace making practices in Brussels, triggered by a rumour about a peace machine.
Gus, the machine technician
“I mean, you can ask me another 100 questions about the peace machine and I will try to respond to that, but it’s a bit like magic, you know. You can join me for a day if you want. We’ll feed the machine, fertilize it, repair it and pet it…it’s like you will get to know the machine, the animals, the plants, the geometrical, living city that Brussels is.”
Anonymous Brusseleir
“As it is hard to get the concept of peace, it is hard to get the concept of peace machine. I think it’s the collective consciousness. It is everywhere to not be a privileged space”.
Fear, an alien from Proxima Centauri, the nearest livable planet from earth, water based, mother of 3, 122 yo.
“So the peace machine is in palais du justice (that is under construction for 72 years now), at least that’s what they told us. Because what we saw was an empty neoclassical room with a huge glass cube in the center. But still, I couldn’t see anything that could look like a machine in that room. Strange”.
“Today, there was a strange disturbance in the cognitive program of the peace machine. Like a complex knot of suppressed emotion, from a parallel timeline. I don’t know if it was from the past or the future, if it was like a mix of grief, anger and something else I couldn’t identify. Maybe it was not human affect. I could see some images, a repetitive pattern with a dog yelling at a group of people, hurricanes destroying houses, a child running in a field and an ocean still. I couldn’t logically identify the discursive link between these. I’m not sure who these memories are and if I should report it”.
Finn, a dog that can communicate with humans
“I can talk to humans because of an AI implant in my ear. I can hear a sort of ringing sound/frequency, mostly unhearable to humans, it is the peace machine I believe”.
Ruby, the “strays” forager (they/them), 70 years old
“Days later after wandering in Brussels with Finn, following the sound, we come to the conclusion that the Peace Machine is not a visible or tangible machine. But it helped us to find each other and through following the sound, the Peace Machine guided us through our purpose of helping others”.
Jeremy, a 16 year old, struggling to find their place in the world
“I’m like an arm, an extension of the peace machine. I operate by collecting information and looking around and using my sensitivity to really understand because I understand a lot of things and the machine gives me tools, such as this one, with which I can look at the ground, see an ant passing by, and just by directing my tool, communicate with the ant and understand what it’s trying to say. Now, my issue is that I can make the machine understand but I cannot connect to the other human beings because they do not speak the same language”.
Salamandra, 38 yo, She/her, teacher
“I fled from my country because of a civil war. I’m a teacher here but the reality is very different here. The students have a lot of questions and I don’t have any answers. I feel judged. Someone told me if I see the peace machine it can help me. I’m desperate now to see the peace machine and become a better teacher and take the machine prototype back to my country”.
Anonymous Brusseleir
“The peace machine is invisible like the mycelium webs and we’re the mushrooms. The machine transports information and does what it needs to do in a given context and situation. And we as the organisms part of this web get impulses to restore balance or to activate something or to stop doing something”.
Voici, the little voice in our head
“I’m Voici and voicing in all of your heads. I’m influencing everyone from within. Maybe I am the voice of the voice machine, the time machine, the peace machine”.
The following scenario is a futures scenario for Brussels based on two days of worldbuilding, where we dove deep into the topic of peace and peace making practices.
The wind blows hard. The population is very dense, and more fluid than ever. Climate change made people more nomadic and less attached to their stuff. There is a ‘southern’ atmosphere in the streets, people speak a ‘fantastic language’. ‘Accidental families’ live in community in former office buildings. There are intergenerational learning sessions at the pond, and lifelong learning programs. A parents movement does hugging and shaking sessions. The big debate of today is to abolish the notion of punishment. There are repair and healing circles.
You hear and sense a mysterious rhythm of peace, the city seems a peace garden. Is it the location and diversity of Brussels that is fertile ground to cultivate peacemaking practices? There are rumours about the presence of a peace machine in the city. Nobody knows where it is. Some claim to have heard it. Others felt it. Some have been told to go visit it. Some people are eagerly searching for it. Some say it is a big glass cube inside the Palace of Justice, which is not possible to verify. Dogs seem to hear the frequency of the machine. Some Brusseleirs have telepathic communication with the peace machine and are helping others to understand it. There are a bunch of disbelievers who reject the presence of any such object in the city.
The peace machine…
…collects information from around and has special abilities to communicate with non-humans. …has a healing power and follows a seven-stage process to restore peace within people in need. …spreads a vaporized liquid throughout the city to ensure plants, animals and people can thrive on an amazing air quality, can grow plants and flowers. …can adapt in different contexts to respond to the needs and changes its focus. …captures stories in the city and weaves a rich tapestry for the city. …reminds us of what is going on a global level and that sharing a planet means sharing a responsibility to restore balance and peace. …guides people to find their purpose. …gets informed by time travel
You need to feed the peace machine something before interacting with it. It is still a mystery what it eats. The peace machine loves petting. The machine emits impulses and if you are around it, it can prompt you to do surprising acts, like cleaning a glass. There are moments when the peace machine rests, when it is tired and sick.
During this project we experimented with ways to bring futures literacy to young people. One of the approaches was to collectively create pieces of futures fiction. Creative images of alternative futures open up new possibilities, bring people together around new perspectives, and challenge dominant narratives about the future – especially when created by voices that we usually don’t hear. They are useful tools for transformation, they trigger imagination and conversation, and they’re also fun – which we believe is an important part of learning many things. These activities, involving close to 200 teenagers and young adults from Slovakia and Belgium, also opened a window into how this generation thinks about its, and our future.
Here, we share some of the outcomes of the Futures Is Now project: what the young participants created and what that leads us to understand about their hopes, aspirations and worries; and also what we, the project organisers, learned from the whole process.
We tested various Futures Literacy activities (methods, set of activities, tools, games, etc.) during seven training sessions in Bratislava, Proprad (Slovakia), Brussels (Belgium) and Paris (France). Depending on the context, goal, duration and participants of the session, different modules were used in different orders during each session. We’ve developed a document to share these educational modules that can be used for courses, workshops, or any other group activity involving accessing, creating, and discussing futures. It is designed with young participants in mind, but can probably be used for all audiences. In the Toolbox, you will find a few practical examples of how we have used these modules in our work with young (16-25 years old) people.
Our partner Youthwatch continued trend research as part of their Futures Literacy activities, and we helped out. In the document you find here you can read more about the trends they observed.
A futures literate society is both more innovative and more cohesive, because it is better able to find common ground in action towards desirable futures.
To create an ecologically and socially sustainable world, we will need to be able to both adapt to change, and create radical change. This can only succeed as shared endeavors. Such endeavors can only be born out of collective processes where alternative futures are imagined, envisioned, discussed, amended, before resulting in actions. In turn, these actions will open new possibilities and generate new uncertainties, requiring the process of “futuring” and acting to work as a kind of continuous loop.
We humans always anticipate. The generations to come will need, more than ever, to better understand their anticipation processes and learn to use the future to navigate their world.
This publication will guide you through an introduction to Futures Literacy and the different ways you can use it, with a special focus on the impact for young people.
1. SOCIALLY, ETHICALLY AND ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE TECHNOLOGY
It was time for technology to move from the hands of prying private platforms to the masses for it to reveal its true usefulness for society. The decentralised infrastructure of the web was born. Locally regulated, cooperative and decentralised organisations replaced the big social media corporations to create digital environments fostering sane and humane interaction. New technologies were scrutinised with strict evaluation tools and ethical framework lenses before they could make it to the market. Psychological and data sciences were used to promote learning, the tools of algorithmic curation were used to protect our attention from being degraded. The ethics around technological developments became part of daily discussions.
2. RELATIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Once the importance of relational knowledge and skills within the society was recognised, the industrial approach of education was left behind. A life long learning system with relational knowledge and skills at its core, got developed, inspired by the many ethnic and cultural perspectives that exist in our cities. There are courses in relational thinking, community building, self-knowledge, critical digital skills, tolerance and solidarity accessible for everyone. This new learning system promotes the collective way of being.
3. RELATIONSHIPS AFTER GROWTH
Tired of the pursuit of growth, the value of good relationships got acknowledged and gained a bigger space in how time and resources get allocated. Countries started measuring their welfare through the state of wellbeing instead of their economic wealth. On a cultural level, we moved beyond the aim for growth, progress and productivity and define success by the amount and quality of relationships we have and sustainable prosperity. Profiling ourselves and showing off with our achievement on social media became counterproductive, since connection is valued more than competition. Artificial intelligent machines filled in many jobs and basic income got introduced. The quality of relationships and free time is what gets valued more than numbers.
4. CRITICAL PHYGITAL RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
We shifted from spending time with mostly avatars to the conscious development of a network of people. People with whom we have deep relationships, based on online or offline face-to-face interaction. After several trials and errors in the virtual world, we now have the knowledge on how to navigate relations. We still spend time as avatars in the virtual world but before going deeper we unmask ourselves to know each other better. Friends can be virtual and real as long as there is affection, solidarity and a safe space. Long distance relationships are common thanks to technology. Although the physical and digital world are connected seamlessly and combined form the reality, the limitations of the digital world are clear.
5. REGAIN CONFIDENCE IN OTHERS AND PUBLIC AUTHORITIES
Influencers, brands, companies, politicians bear legal responsibility for negatively misleadingly and influencing people. Several rules, committees to build policies of radical transparency, blockchain techs, and fact-checking systems are designed to control them. Together with a more fundamental trust in “others”, this brought a new way of perceiving the institutions. Political participation and democracy is revived. On a personal level, people are more critical and free from true-false thinking and speech. The need to express personal opinions turned into giving space to disagree.
6. SOCIAL IMAGINARY AROUND CARE
A low threshold holistic health system has emerged and provides mental support where needed. Methods are very varied, from experiential and multi-sensory healing practices to daily support of AI bots. The focus is to help people have a deeper understanding of and a better relationship with themself, others, friends, intimate relationships, family, community, society… Mental care is a daily routine and there are no taboos around it anymore. There is an awareness that all emotions are relevant, that there are no instant solutions, that we cannot be happy all the time, that we should not change others and that maintaining healthy relationships is hard work.
7. ECOLOGY OVERTAKES DIGITAL
Due to ecological reasons, people only have a limited amount of hours on the internet. It is not an issue as it helps us value real-life interactions and encounter differences that in return help us to have healthy relationships possible anywhere. The ethical and ecological production standards around technology are strictly watched and the use of digital technology is highly taxed and limited.
Disclaimer: This article is a result of expert interviews, desktop research, and chat with the people of Brussels around the research question ‘How will young Brusselèirs bond in 2035?’. The aim of the research is to map the current state and to analyse the trends. We will use it as a base for our futures stories.
CONTENTS
👶 Young people of tomorrow 🧑🎤 Young people of today 👭 Healthy relationships for young 📱 Global evolutions that might influence the way we bond 🔮 Futures?
Young people of tomorrow
Dear Brussels,
You are the youngest capital in Europe and the youngest region of Belgium.
Did you ever think of the young people of the future in our city?
The young people of 2035 in Brussels, that means Generation Alpha, the babies of today, the kids of the Millennials, the younger siblings of Generation Z, … what do we know about them compared to previous generations?
They will be more
They will be more diverse in ethnic and cultural background
Their parents have them when they are older
They will grow up in smaller families
They will be the most educated, digitally savvy and most globally connected generation so far
They will live longer
To get an idea about being young in our city, let’s have a look at the young people of today in Brussels.
Brussels youngsters are connected to their peers, their neighborhood and their ethnic origin. The diversity within the generation is very big and there is a big difference among young people living in different neighborhoods.
So that’s Brussels. And what about youth in general?
Young people of today
They are a Burnout Generation. On the one hand there are more and new mental health issues (bigorexia and climate anxiety for example). On the other hand, there is more openness about the topic ( Stromae sings about it , Angèle talks about her struggles on Netflix ) as well as efforts to cope with it. Games, such as Depression The Game, that teach you to empathize with depressed people for example, or apps, like MOODFIT, that help you to think more positively.
Generational Battles. The mediatisation of generational thinking and intergenerational challenges led to a finger pointing from one generation to the other, connections with older generations are not that easy for Gen Z. Gen Z blames the babyboomers for ruining the planet, they make fun of Millennials wearing skinny pants, and they felt stigmatised when some of them misbehaved during the pandemic.
They are hard to grasp Multitudes. Conscious identity formation and the diversity of online and offline expression platforms led to a complex whole of layers of the self. Today it goes further than just having a rinsta and a finsta. They show up differently, talk differently, value different things according to the platform, or the niche corner of the platform where they are (because yes, besides Straight TikTok with dances and comedy, there is DeepTok with weird absurd things about for example beans and frogs or fake accounts pretending to be department stores).
The Good, The Bad And The Debate. In times that wokeness and activism prevails and there is no shared moral framework, judging and policing becomes part of daily life. Opinions glue and divide. Cancel culture is everywhere.
Fluid Relationships are the norm, experimenting with and redefining relationships and partners happens with a never seen openness. They are explicit about dating for money and BDSM preferences, they earn money on Onlyfans and fall in love with AI’s. And when done with you, they ghost you.
And relationships are exactly what we need to feel better though, no?
The quality of your relationships is more important than the quantity. Quality doesn’t mean perfection. It’s about building strong codependent bonds, a shared life mission, common values and goals, a sense of trust, knowing that you can count on others and that they can count on you, sharing joyful moments, and being fully accepted.
Adolescents find a new understanding of not just the self, but also human interaction. They become more independent from their family and being understood and accepted by their peers becomes more important. Their maturing brain is highly susceptible to environmental influences and their capacity for consequential thought is still limited though; they may not always make wise or healthy decisions.
Are there any global trends that will influence the way we bond with each other in Brussels?
Global evolutions that might influence the way we bond
Growth of ‘non-Western’ cultural influences
The shift of cultural, technological, political and economic powers combined with global crises like climate change and wars, will influence our lives in Brussels. There are more than two billion young people in Asia alone which is double the youth in the rest of the world. Besides, Asian companies like TikTok will mediate our social interaction. Also, new refugee streams will influence our values and the way we relate to each other.
New virtual spaces for social life
A network of 3D virtual worlds like Facebooks Horizon Worlds or for the kids Roblox are designed as the next social media, where you hang out, work, learn, play, party, attend concerts and discuss policies as your self-created avatar. The metaverse has patented technology that could track what you look at and how your body moves in virtual reality in order to target ads at you. The platforms would be able to collect photos and personal information from their users and minors are exposed to graphic sexual content, racist and violent language, bullying and other forms of harassment in VR platforms. This will influence our capacity to decode true information, mental health and bonding skills in real life.
New tools to understand each other
Metamodernism is an integration of modern, postmodern as well as premodern (indigenous and traditional) cultural codes, and could lead to multiperspectivalism and cross-cultural/cross-historical understanding. All kinds of tools help us to better understand each other (e.g. real-time translation of speech, even through earbuds). Through future BCI (brain computing interface) technology, we’ll also be able to better communicate with people with severe disabilities and even achieve basic dialogue with infants, pets, and wild animals.
New tools to be intimate
By combining the best of physical and digital worlds you can create new experiences. AI, augmented reality, wearables, and digital environments will change the way we meet, interact, have sex and end our relationships. Holodeck-style environments and virtual reality combined with realistic devices and maybe even a Teslasuit, can create exciting new sexual possibilities, or even develop relationships with non-humans. This will influence how we will be intimate with other humans.
New tech to improve our social skills
Wearable and implantable technology will allow us to enhance existing or get new (social) skills. When we will use BCI (brain computing interface) technology, our minds will connect directly to the web to answer any question we come up with, a future version of the Internet may be formed through connecting minds instead of computers. Machine-learning systems can study facial muscle movements and detect lies, hack the brain and enhance personality. Technologies like drugs, transcranial electrical stimulation, brain implants, and genetic engineering can enhance connections between parts of the brain, to increase multitasking performance, attention, and working memory span. With neuromodulation surgery, we might get rid of mental disorders. But when BCI technology becomes commonly held, we will need to worry about future criminals hacking into our minds, stealing memories, implanting memories and mind control.
Considering the developments that we see happening, what do we have to figure out about the futures of bonding?
Futures?
Futures of intimate bonding
Will we be matched and monitor our relationships based on values, interests, moods and biometric data?
Will love relationships be poly, pan, temporary, commodified, international, intercultural, interplanetary and/or interspecies?
How will tech tools and virtual spaces relate to analogue intimacy?
…
Futures of bonding with family and friends
How will we balance our time between our biological family versus our ‘chosen family of friends’?
How will we make friends and maintain friendships on the one hand and relate to relationships with differently-minded others on the other hand?
How will digital and analogue technology trigger and facilitate support, solidarity and shared experiences with family and friends?
…
Futures of bonding with society
How will technology bridge and divide and how will that shape how we trust each other?
How will young people contribute to their community and have meaning in life?
How will intergenerational, intercultural, interabilities, intergender, interlingual,… bonding happen in the city?
…
And most of all… what do we want?
Many questions popped up during this research. In a series of LabAvenirs we will debate these questions, and we’ll put the answer in a music piece, installation, performance,… of the futures of Brussels.
6 guiding principles for sharing Bruxsels amongst each other in 2030
For one year we have been talking to citizens and experts about the past, present and futures on our research question ‘How will we share the city amongst each other in Bruxsels in 2030?’. This happened from October 2020 to November 2021 with 482 people over 10 LabAVenirs, 5 Window Cafes, 40 one-to-one meetings with experts and partners.
We gathered many insights and statements that show us possible futures. Inspired by that, we framed 6 principles for sharing the city amongst each other in 2030. We presented these principles in an online experts lab, and refined them together. The 6 principles are the base for our futures stories.
Below some excerpts from the various conversations as ‘citizen testimonials’ and the principles that derived from it.
1.
“I don’t want forced mixing or futuristic hybridisation” ; “Sharing would mean opening up my culture” ; “Going out of my bubble means negotiating my identity with the local identity” ; “To open up means none of the communities, not even the domestic ones, can pretend to have enough cultural rules to become the dominant culture in our society” ; “We need to question the dominant behaviour ruling in the open spaces” ; “Everything is too organised, it kills spontaneity” ; “Let’s do the opera in Molenbeek and do rap in Woluwe” ; “It’s not comfortable when there is too much intercultural; we need opening up of cultures but also maintain spaces where people can have their cultures” ; “Brussels is a melting pot, people here are not caught up in ‘this is how you do things’. We can appreciate the mixity here”
CROSS-POLLINATION BETWEEN GROUPS
Sharing the city amongst each other in 2030 is not only about coexistence but cross-pollination of groups. The idea is to go from tolerance to a true interest for other cultures and practices in a respectful manner. This would mean getting rid of stereotypes and of bubblification.
“It would be interesting to have temporary spaces around different cultures, communities, and practices to challenge our ideas. It’s a way for the city to evolve with its citizens.” ; “We can have zinnekeparade, car free sunday and a carnaval but with less preparations to lower the threshold for participation” ; “We need undefined spaces in the city that are designed for spontaneity” ; “We need more mixed housing” ; “We need everyday spaces in the city designed to host multigenerational, multicultural needs” ; “It’s not by expressing your own culture so much that you build bridges. Building bridges happens when respecting the boundaries of others”
2.
“It is difficult to develop trust and solidarity with people different from you” ; “There should be no difference between expats and immigrants” ; “Diversity is foremost about acknowledging inequality” ;“There is a lot of fear around differences” ; “Everything is too regulated, I don’t see children climbing trees” ;“The over-institutionalised care limits us in relying on others” ;“So many people see Brussels as a transition city, this is hard for social cohesion” ;“It’s hard to connect with people who are in transition in Brussels” ;“How do you educate people about diversity who have just arrived and that might not stay that long”
EXTENDED MUTUAL CARE AND SOLIDARITY FOR EVERYONE
Sharing the city amongst each other in Brussels in 2030 requires us to go beyond the care and solidarity for only people we know. Solidarity is mostly based on familiarity, it is hard to be solidair with people who are very different from us or who are here temporarily. There is a need to emphasise on the common rather than differences. The individualistic lifestyle can give way to more interdependence and mutual care.
“One must be free of prejudice, free of clichés, free of ghettos” ; “We see a rise of solidarity among strangers because of shared struggles during the crisis. We can fake a crisis in the city” ; “Integration in Brussels can be compulsory and for everyone, it is an opportunity to become Brusseleir even if you are here temporarily. We can have different stages and more personalised approach to integration” ; “Educating newcomers about diversity and respect is a political act and it’s a matter of prioritising this” ; “Cultural activities and organisational life (volunteering) helps newcomers in building social networks” ; “We need low threshold open community centres where different people can come in and organise several activities”
3.
“For me the question is: does everyone have to go to all the places in the city?” ; “If we talk about sharing the city, it seems that we are talking about cutting it up, drawing lines, and giving places to one another” ; “It’s not easy to find a flat in Uccle or Woluwe, people don’t want to rent a flat to foreigners. So we have to go to Molenbeek or Anderlecht” ; “We don’t cross the canal” ; “I wouldn’t feel part of any other neighbourhood in Brussels than the one I’m living in” ; “I feel safe in my commune” ; “Some neighbourhoods are dead. Places like youth centres should be developed everywhere, they make dead neighbourhoods lively” ; “I don’t romanticise the idea that we need to be “all together everywhere”. What we do need is better accessibility to different neighbourhoods. Today, if I want to go to Uccle, it takes me an hour”
CONNECTED MUNICIPALITIES
Sharing the city amongst each other in Brussels in 2030 can build more literal and figurative bridges and connect different municipalities to get rid of the neighbourhood biases. People feel good in a neighbourhood when its characteristics bring a sense of familiarity but that often renders it unwelcoming for others. This creates a paradox between making sure that people should feel at home versus making everyone feel welcome. We don’t have to make everyone feel at home everywhere, rather they should just feel welcome.
“Feelings of safety can be stimulated by collectively going to different neighbourhoods” ; “We need a big polygamous marriage between different communes in Brussels” ; “We need more social housing in richer neighbourhoods” ; “Existing places such as libraries can act as bridges between communes” ; “More participative projects at the regional level can bring people from different municipalities together” ; “We need something like a Sister-city policy for communes where each commune has another sister commune for 2 years to do things together and then it rotates”
4.
“Do I have to choose one or the other language in Brussels?” ; “The promotion of monolingualism in a multicultural city like Brussels is questionable while sharing the city” ;“I dream in Molenbeek of a beautiful hammam with mosaics, with a tea room,… a magnificent place that shows the Moroccan culture” ; “During Covid, we were in echo chambers online, and outside we were sharing the parks and fitness tools with strangers. It made differences very visible in the public spaces and it felt unsafe to be there” ; “The institutional view on diversity as a topic is still old school, often talking about diversity, we think of immigrants and vulnerable populations” ;“For 2030 we have to be ambitious. Will we still divide people by gender? Maybe there will also be bots with AI?” ;“The language conflict will grow because of the huge influx of migrants brought by climate change and wars” ;“Language is a barrier for people to be themselves and to connect with others. We can go beyond it by connecting through skills and interests.” ;“We should normalise issues like sexual orientation and let it be expressed in public . But you have to feel safe to do this. Ideally everyone should feel safe to express themselves. Super utopic”
FACILITATING PLURALITY
Sharing the city amongst each other in Brussels in 2030 facilitates the plurality of lifestyles and identities. It is about welcoming the plurality of cultural expressions, languages, genders, perspectives and species. By making social and political space for plurality, we can make Brussels truly a lab for the future of cities. Education has an important role to play to teach multiculturalism and multilingualism.
“There is also a comfort in the fact that everyone is so visually different, you are not the odd one. Show how powerful it can be to be unapologetically yourself” ; “It is not just the education system but also the cities have a responsibility to teach plurality. If a young kid doesn’t find answers at school it would be amazing if they find these things in the city” ; “What if we can learn a language while cooking or climbing?” ; “We need to rethink the pronouns we use in our everyday language” ; “English can become an official language and we should be able to do admin work in any language” ; “We need collective celebrations of diverse festivals and through that display of different cultures” ; “The introduction and the democratisation of real-time interpretation devices can be a real game changer”
5.
“In Brussels I need a person to help me get in and out of the metro. It’s a bit sad. It is time consuming” ;“The school books are white, not diverse enough. You see perfection everywhere” ;“We segregate people with a handicap, put them on a bus, in a social block, in a special school. Mix them with the others” ;“When someone has an assistant, people talk to the assistant, not to the person directly” ;“It would be amazing if I would be able to take the bus without planning and organising. That I can just participate with my friends that are already there, instead of coming to get me” ;“People lack education on differences as they are not confronted with the differences” ;“I would love to participate in the zinneke parade, but everyone is standing and looking up, I’m down on my wheelchair” ;“Dealing with opposing needs and desires makes sharing hard. Eg: party vs dement people, spontaneous vs taking handicaped people into account” ;“The behaviour in public places like sports places is gendered. The masculine sphere dominates over others”
INCLUSIVE DESIGN
Sharing the city amongst each other in Brussels in 2030 cannot happen without putting Inclusive design as a starting point of everything. In general if you need to make something accessible, you need to plan a lot. This kills spontaneity. Not if we have a multi-needs design panel from the beginning to imagine, plan and execute everything in the city. Multi-needs refers to not different physical or mental abilities but also other ‘handicaps’, such as not speaking local languages, cultural understandings, etc. Getting rid of taboos to discuss diverse needs can be a starting point. To provide equality of design and services that allows people to participate in a meaningful way in everyday life is important for the futures of cities.
“For people to meaningfully participate in projects, communication and information needs to be inclusive; in multiple formats, visual, audio; and brought by organisations that reach special groups. It benefits everyone, not only handicapped people but also newcomers” ;“Places to get away from the chaos in the city, like helmets or pods” ; “Designs that make you smile at each other” ; “Everyone should be trained with diversity so that people with special needs don’t have to pay a lot for assistance” ; “During processions or parades or events, it is necessary to have vehicles part of the parade, a place on a grandstand, adapted public toilets, support for senior citizens, babysit for kids to support mothers to participate” ; “To include diverse voices in participatory urban planning we need participatory credits”
6.
“There is a strong tension between the official norm of ‘active citizenship’ and the bureaucratic integration of newcomers” ;“The integration process is frustrating for newcomers and it doesn’t fit their personal and professional motivations” ;“Not having an active role as a citizen makes most people not have a sense of belonging” ;“Diversity is seen as richness only by the privileged” ;“People of European origin (other than Belgium) living in Brussels are those who have the lowest interest in local politics (municipal and regional)” ;“The presence of distincts Flemish and Francophone reception agencies does not provide a unitary response service in terms of practices and principles” ;“Not everyone has the headspace to participate in the city malking” ;“So many families evicted in the last two years because of unaffordable prices”
A HOME FOR EVERYONE
Sharing the city amongst each other in Brussels in 2030 can happen if we leave no one behind and make everyone feel at home in Brussels. You can feel at home in a city if you live in a decent home. Access to decent housing for everyone is a priority. Followed by social activities and occasions where people can free themselves and mingle with others to build rich social networks.
“No one should be allowed to own more than one house” ;“Ultimate safety for everyone means a good housing” ;“Key party for homeless where we fill-up all empty spaces in Brussels” ;“Language learning can be a platform for exchange between people, exchange of information and the production of networks of support” ;“A culture where we don’t need police necessarily but everybody can tell each other how to be in a respectful way” ;“People who are temporarily here can vote on some matters if not elections”
Disclaimer: In the past months we crowdsourced questions about youth in Brussels in the year 2035. We went on the streets and asked people what they would love to know about young people in our city in the future. We talked to experts and gathered questions through an online campaign. After making sense of 270 questions together with our project partner Youthwatch in Bratislava, we chose to focus on the research question ‘How will young Brusselèirs and Bratislavians bond in 2035?’. In this article you can read a first exploration of the question, in the form of a Zoom talk between Brussels and Bratislava.
Bratislava: Hi Brussels, so good to see you. How are you doing?
Brussels: Hi Bratislava! I’m a bit tired of calls, I have to say. Due to all the telework of the past year and a half, I got a severe Zoom overdose.
Bratislava: True, I’m glad we’re getting back to offline life. Terrasses and bars are open again, everyone is back from holidays, and in the work rhythm again, young people are going to school. Slovakia is among the EU countries where schools were closed the longest during the first and second wave of Covid-19. So everyone is happy that they can go back to the school benches.
Brussels: That’s indeed one of the positive results of what we have been going through. Schoolgoing seems revalued, by parents and by young people themselves. The pandemic has left us with a few challenges though, concerning youth. I’m excited that we‘ve been paired up to work on the future of youth together.
Bratislava: Me too. Bratislava, Brussels, there are some benefits of being next to each other in the alphabetical list of capitals of Europe. So, the idea of this project is that we’ll explore ‘youth in the year 2035’ with the goal to strengthen the position of young people in our societies?
Brussels: Yes. We’ll make the insights tangible by putting them into futures stories, like the radio show of the future by BrusselAVenir that happened here last year? This can help us, cities, to take better decisions today.
Bratislava: Cool. And by doing this with the youth of today we help them to discover their potential and immediately engage them in shaping our cities.
Brussels: Because of their crucial role in cities, we call them the Future Fertilisers of our city, right?
Bratislava: Indeed. They are not only the business owners, teachers, politicians and family heads of tomorrow. Already now, they have a fresh view on how things could be done differently. As Future Fertilisers they plant and fertilise the youth of the futures.
Brussels: And there are many young people in our cities. I have been rejuvenating since the 1970’s. I am the youngest region in Belgium and the youngest EU capital city. One third of my population is younger than 25. So yes, let’s dive into this group. Remind me, Bratislava, how do we define youth in this project?
Bratislava: Youth is the time when kids step by step become autonomous from their parents. It is the period in which they develop their ideas about who they are. This happens through relationships with others. The European Union defines young people to be between 13 and 30 years old, so this age category is what we’ll use for the project.
Brussels: Honestly, we are both more than 1000 years old. I’m not on TikTok and don’t invest in crypto’s. Keeping up with the youth has always been challenging, and the fast technological developments are not making it any easier. The young people of today, generation Z, (born between 1996 and 2010) is a hard group to define, a harder group to follow and the hardest group to imagine in the future.
Bratislava: But wait, in 2035 generation Z will be 25 to 40 years old, that’s not youth anymore, right?
Brussels: Correct. The youth of 2035 will mostly be Generation Alpha, the ones born between 2011 and 2025. They will be 10 to 24 years old in 2035.
Bratislava: So we’ll study the future of an age group from which some of them aren’t born yet. Will we consult oracles and astrologists?
Brussels: Haha, not really. There is information available that can help us to explore how they potentially might evolve. The times they grow up in and their material reality are very formative for a generation. The Silent Generation went through the Great Depression and World War II and listened to the radio. The Baby Boomers came of age in postwar economic prosperity and grew up with the idea that things would improve, and the news reached them via television.
Bratislava: Got it. And Generation X was shaped by difficult economic circumstances due to the second oil crisis, the cold war and the end of sexual freedom since HIV came up. They are the MTV Generation and had video cassette recorders and walkmen.
Brussels: And then we have Generation Y. They grew up with global issues like terrorism. The rise of the internet and social media shaped their lives.
Bratislava: So by studying trends and technological development that will influence the possible worlds of 2035, we can get an idea of what this age group might be like. And of course, we can study how they are as kids.
Brussels: And we can look at their parents, the generation they are raised by.
Bratislava: Most Gen Z members are children of the more pragmatic Generation X, and most Generation Alpha are kids of the dreamy Gen Y.
Brussels: Indeed. So the youngsters of today, and the youngsters of 2035, what do we know about them?
Bratislava: Gen Z grows up in a fast paced world, with global crises like the financial crisis, climate change and the crisis of democracy – think: the Arab Spring. They grow up with internet always everywhere accessible through different devices, constantly exposed to information. Social media influencers are their heroes, like the YouTuber PewDiePie or GoGo in Slovakia.
Brussels: And in Generation Alpha is growing up with even more chaos, complexity and contradiction?
Bratislava: Indeed. Playing with bots and mostly attracted to everything that has a screen. I’m curious what the impact will be.
Brussels: Their great great great grandparents in Europe grew up while innocent women and men were burning on the pyre. I’m sure the kids will survive smartphones and tablets, don’t you think?
Bratislava: Good point. I’m not worried either.
Brussels: Generation Alpha is said to become the most educated generation in history and the most tech-savvy. They will have to figure out how to deal with both the opportunities and challenges of technology.
Bratislava: Social media will be their dominant mode of interaction. Their friends might be robots, they might have nanotechnologie in their bodies that monitor their health, mind-reading devices or implants with whatever functions. Will they still be able to write or to drive a car?
Brussels: Or talk to a stranger without mask?
Bratislava: Did you hear that they are considering changing the name of Generation Alpha in Generation C, referring to COVID?
Brussels: Haha, no, not yet. Naming and juggling with generational stereotypes seems a hobby of some people. You are aware though that generational thinking has its pros and cons, right?
Bratislava: Sure. There are as many differences as similarities when comparing different generations and it is a drastic generalisation.
Brussels: And talking in general seems to become more difficult with each generation. Take generation Z. They grow up on the internet and nobody knows what they are doing there. Once they get out of their Disney movie obsession, they start a YouTube channel where they showcase their nail tattoo stickering skills, they get into Fortnite and Dinosaur Metal, after which they become a buddhist and they start communicating in memes.
Bratislava: You are right. Due to their creative and free identity formation, there is more diversity within one generation than ever.
Brussels: On top of that, I am the most cosmopolitan city of Europe and second in the world with more than 180 nationalities and more than 108 different languages spoken. Besides very diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, also the differences between youngsters of different neighbourhoods is big.
Bratislava: Unlike Brussels, I am not so diverse yet. We have small groups of international students and some ethnic groups, but they are all well integrated. We can talk about a growing diversity in opinions, values and mindsets though. Due to my open-mindedness I attract for example people from LGBTQIA+ community because they feel more accepted here than in rural parts of the country.
Brussels: For me, the diversity makes it difficult to grasp, to reach, and to engage them. My young people are very much connected to their peers, their neighbourhood and their ethnic origin, but their bond with the rest of the city is rather poor. ¼ of young people are unemployed and feel disconnected with politics and their city. Many feel left out on the one hand and stigmatised by the media and the police on the other hand. A sensitive but very actual topic.
Bratislava: In Slovakia as well, there is a lack of trust in politicians and institutions. 80% of young Slovaks think their voice is not heard. As a consequence we see the rise of extreme right as well as an increase in conspiracy theories. Even though many young people admire my current mayor Matúš Vallo, they don’t engage in public affairs. The system is failing to prepare young people for the future and they are not happy about it.
Brussels: So, if there is one topic concerning youth in the year 2035 that we should research… according to you… what would that be, Bratislava?
Bratislava: Just like you did, we did a lot of research, talked to experts and gathered more than 277 questions from citizens. A recurring and very actual theme seems to be the mental health of our youngsters, influenced by the pandemic but also the increasing role of technology in their lives.
Brussels: Interesting… Tell me more.
Bratislava: Adolescence is a crucial period for developing social and emotional habits important for mental well-being. There is an increase in mental issues, there are new forms such as orthorexia, bigorexia and climate anxiety, and most of the cases remain underdiagnosed and undertreated. In 2020, IPčko (one Slovak helpline) provided 52,682 times help to people that were not feeling well. In the same year, due to the enormous workload, 60,147 requests for assistance were not provided.
Brussels: We have a similar situation here. Already before the pandemic many youngsters were not feeling well. Gen Y is often referred to as the “burnt generation”, showing signs of high stress and frustration at work. Now, Gen Zers, who are still studying, are also feeling burned out, depressed and frustrated in their personal lives. One indicator are the suicide rates. In Belgium suicide is the most common cause of death for youngsters between 15 and 24 years old. Recent research showed that during the COVID-19 crisis 1 out of 4 youngsters between 18 and 29 has considered suicide.
Bratislava: These are worrying numbers. The times they grow up in aren’t easy. They have a lot of options and are responsible for their own success. Everybody with access to the internet can make it these days, right? But the paths to success are blurry, and often their parents don’t know how to guide them either.
Brussels: Indeed. Everything is possible and they can be whoever they are, they have a lot of freedom. On the other hand they also suffer from the lack of borders and certainties. And they do not know who to trust and what is real.
Bratislava: But as long as they have a good connection and full battery they find out on social media, no?
Brussels: Social networks are the place where they connect with their peers and find guidance in life – recipes on being cool, perform better or get their hair done. But to which extent these platform are a healthy place to hang out, is questionable.
Bratislava: You’ve watched the ‘Social Dilemma’ as well?
Brussels: Correct. The whole debate on the ways tech companies manipulate our attention, is hot and happening. But so far, only the employees of the tech companies and their kids have left social media.
Bratislava: And it is via these channels that young people get bombarded with information on the terrifying state of the world. Think politics, human rights, climate, …
Brussels: … pandemics?
Bratislava: Indeed. That brings us to the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of young people. Planning the future became impossible all of a sudden. Being in lockdown with their parents, who in some cases are very controlling or not controlling at all, some even aggressive, led to harsh situations. Social life moved from party offline and online to fully online. Not being able to hang out with your friends is dramatic in this life stage. Gen Z experienced this very consciously, but for Gen Alpha there will be an impact as well.
Brussels: From the different causes of mental health issues, the importance of healthy relationships became a very noticeable one during Covid 19 pandemic. The Mental Health Foundation defines relationships as ‘the way in which two or more people are connected, or the state of being connected’. Recent studies from Ireland and the USA have found that negative social interactions and relationships, increase the risk of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation, while positive interactions reduce the risk of these issues.
Bratislava: So let’s take healthy relationships as a focus for our exploration of youth in 2035?
Brussels: Yes! The future might bring increasing digitalisation of our (social) lives, a bigger role for bots like ‘Her‘, more expanded relationships over the globe, and much more. So together with the citizens, we will analyse what it could mean to have healthy relationships in 2035. And how cities of the future can support the formation of healthy relationships for young people.
Bratislava: So our research question is: ‘good connection and full battery: how will young Brusselèirs and Bratislavians bond in 2035?’
Brussels: Yes. And we will explore this question with as many citizens as possible.
Bratislava: So this is a call for all readers: would you like to jump onboard on a wild journey? Then please, let us know!
Brussels: Locations – cultural centers or youth houses for example – could host our gatherings and labs and we can offer them exciting futures activities. We are looking for schools, research agencies, students who enjoy doing research on youth, on mental health, technology or on futures, who like to experiment with new methods and ways of spreading research. We would love to collaborate with media makers who want to co-create content about the futures of youth. And creatives and makers of all kinds are invited to step into the experiment of making a futures story.
Bratislava: Basically for everyone who wants, we will find a role. And we promise it will be fun!
Brussels: It will!
Brussels: Take care over there! And talk to you soon!
