What could life be like in 2050?

We will all be 30 years older, we may be retired, have children or grandchildren. We’re likely to be living longer. We might be a lot richer – or poorer – than we are now. However, we will still care about our families, our friends and neighbours and their prospects for the future.

Looking back to look forward

1989 doesn’t seem very long ago, but a lot has changed since then. The images below as some reminders of what was considered ‘cutting edge’ at the time. Mobile phones had only just become available but they were bricks and were only for calls. Think about what we can do on our mobile now and how that changes how we live our lives! TVs were fat and small and only four channels. How we listened to music was different.

The internet, smart phones and new technologies have transformed the way we live our lives. The impacts of a changing climate are starting to be felt. Cars are more efficient and less polluting, but there is still congestion and proposals for new roads. There is still a need for more housing, although house prices are significantly higher than they were 30 years ago in real terms.

Looking forward 30 years, we can expect continuing changes in technology to change the way we live and work. We can expect that we will be responding to the numerous challenges associated with climate change. We are also likely to see changes in the way we travel – trends that have already started.

What will Central Bedfordshire look like in 30 years’ time?

Drivers for change

Although we cannot predict everything that’s going to change over the next 30 years, we can anticipate some trends and how they will impact on our lives. There are some trends which we can already see happening or emerging – we’ve called these drivers for change.  You can read more about each of the drivers for change on this website.

Drivers for change:

• Future Living

• Future Working

• Future Mobility

• Future Environment

• Future Infrastructure

• Future Digital