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Social Cities
Cities that place a premium on connectedness, stability and democracy thrive.

Explore how this evolves in the 2020 Forecast in Eco-Schools.

Humans become an urban species During the next decade, more than half of the world’s population will live in cities. The shift to cities will be greatest in developing countries, yet small cities with populations less that 50,000 will be among the fastest growing in both the developed and developing worlds. The emerging megacities will constitute an urban wilderness presenting extreme conditions that will require existing institutions to provide new infrastructures (physical and social) and develop new adaptive strategies. Public places become personal spaces This decade will become the decade of information in place— geocoded data will be linked through the Internet and accessible through a variety of mobile tools from cell phones and PDAs to augmented-reality devices (like eyeglasses). The result will be an increasingly first-person view of places, where rich streams of personalized media “redraw” streets, storefronts, schools, and community locations. Educational content and curriculum will become context-specific, aligning personal learning needs with places.

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Map Legend

Drivers   Drivers
The vertical side of the left column of the map. These are six categories driving all trends, hotspots and dilemmas. Click on the purple bar for a definition of that driver.
Impact areas   Impact Areas
The horizontal axis of the map. These are five key areas of activity where major trends are revealed from different perspectives. Click on the purple bar for a definition of that impact area.
Hotspots   Hotspots
These are key trends that we think have broad impact on education and often make good starting points for exploring the map.
Dilemmas   Dilemmas
These are issues that can't be solved with either/or thinking but require new strategies that go beyond simple problem solving.

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