Being distinctive

One of the key drivers of the Wellington 2040 project has been to consider trends that are likely to play out in the future.  The aim has not been to predict the future but instead consider where the combination of trends is likely to create tensions or changes that could plausibly impact on the city.  

The research identified six mega trends including:

Place is everything: people will have higher expectations of places in a more globalised world.

Key themes:

• Greater awareness of what other cities have to offer changes expectations.
• Higher expectations include those things that all cities should have and those that make places distinctive.
• People will make more deliberate choices about where to live.
• Others will expect more from their local communities.

Underlying drivers:

• Technology and ease of travel: the more global information becomes, the more exposure and choice we have.  
• Skills transfer, mobile workforces, talent attraction: competition between cities is already intensifying, it’s likely to continue. This raises the importance of lifestyle and the ‘experience’ that a place offers.
• Concerns for personal security, ageing ie staying where friends and family are, convenience of remote working: even less mobile segments of the population value the importance of place and have high expectations of their neighbourhood environment.

Some emerging futures:

• Young people with skills may be more likely to migrate to places that offer better experiences and a better lifestyle.  In a US study, nearly two-thirds of college educated young people said they would sooner look for a job based on where the job was located than look for a job regardless of its location:
  www.centerforhoustonsfuture.org/cmsFiles/Files/Attracting%20College-Educated%20Adults%20to%20Cities.pdf
• At the same time, some people are likely to age in place as they get older.  This “new localism” suggests people will spend more time in their local neighbourhood and pay closer attention to the quality of local services:
  www.newsweek.com/2009/10/08/there-s-no-place-like-home.html