I believe the children are our future …
Whitney Houston sang Greatest Love of All and in that, she professed that the children would be our future. With a little poetic licence, we can take that one phrase and make it as relevant today as it was when it was released in 1986.
Each day, I speak to people about Datacraft’s view of the cities of the future. The conversation will more often than not lead us to discussing the need for this journey to take place and invariably, it is always about the high profile agenda items such as CO2 emission, optimisation of natural resources and sustainable urban planning. However, soft benefits are often not considered.
Our World Tomorrow
Generally speaking, we have no trouble grasping the need to build new roads or subways. We are also thorough in determining the best way to use and/or regulate our limited fresh water supplies, with the occasional need for some technology planning in this process.
How often do we stop and think about how the cities or buildings of the future will be utilised? Or, in what ways will our children use the services that we are designing today? How will they live their lives? I am quite sure that it will certainly be different from our current consumption behaviours. This is not just in terms of them wanting different things, but technology will deliver them different option and experiences.
Looking at the Future
For a start, the humble home computers and Internet are already transforming the way we live. Services and experiences that are available to us, were things that our parents would have never dreamed of. Think along the lines of home media centres, webcams for home security monitoring, home wireless networking, and we can see how critical technology is to our future.
If we follow the technological evolution path from fixed to wireless to collaborative to intuitive to interactive, it doesn’t seem all that far away that many of today’s delivery models will become obsolete. The idea of buying a service for a fixed period under contract is the domain of the monopoly, new and innovative providers are already putting their futures in the hands of their service experience. They know that to succeed in this new environment, they need to understand their clients and then innovate frequently.
The big question
So, what does the citizen of the future want to see and how can you start to plan for tomorrow today?
For a start, we need to understand our future – not in the reading of tarot cards but to sit down and listen to the people whom we are planning for. In my opinion, a focus group works better than a mass market research.
Some say that the traditional IP architecture that we have today will be replaced by a new style in 15 years, one that will significantly change the interaction between service providers, clients and consumers. That experience is surely something that will be far different from the experience that we have today. Our challenge is to keep on top of the evolution to ensure that the change remains an evolution, not a revolution.
The New Generation
An example of a change in interaction can be seen from Generation Y (Gen Y), as named by Peter Jennings at ABC News. This market segment is also referred to as The Millenials, The Nintendo Generation or The Internet Generation. Gen Y is more social than Generation X, the generation before. They have also adapted to the online world and social networking as easily as the Baby Boomers (before Gen X) might write a note or make a phone call.
Research shows that this group use multiple technology platforms to interact and communicate. This includes devices such as iPods, mobile phones and portable gaming devices. The telling point is that whatever the solution; it needs to be based upon an open access model. That is an architecture that disregards the desired consumption method, but gives the consumer the required format when needed.
It simplistically highlights that a holistic approach to urban planning needs to be taken. If our services of the future can be consumed, accessed and bought on multiple platforms, we need to make sure everyone is onboard for the journey.
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