Here are a few of the topics that we've been tracking and writing about in Social Technologies' Global Lifestyles project over the summer months:
Millennials at Work
Millennials are pouring into American workplaces, bringing new attitudes on work-life balance, technology use, and company loyalty--in essence, a new set of work values that are quite distinct from those held by earlier generations. The resulting changes--as companies adapt to new workers, and Millennial-led companies blaze their own trails--will have significant implications for the future of work in World 1.
Cloud Computing and Consumers
Identity and Commerce in the Next-Generation Internet
The "cloud," the next-generation Internet in which applications, data storage, and other services are hosted remotely by an Internet services industry, is rapidly emerging. As it does it will fundamentally change how consumers' identities are managed on the Internet: online and offline identities will continue to merge, and consumers will gain more control over how much personal information they release during each online interaction, shifting the relationship between consumers and marketers.
Values of the Global Middle Class
Signposts toward the Future
The values and attitudes of World 2's middle classes are distinct from those of people with lower incomes. Members of middle classes tend to be more in favor of protecting the environment, more pro-democracy, more satisfied with their lives, and less religious.
High-Speed Rail in the US
Competition for Air and Auto?
The US government is funding an ambitious plan to create regional high-speed rail (HSR) systems throughout the nation, in an effort to create jobs, relieve congested urban corridors, and improve the safety, efficiency, and carbon footprint of the US transportation system. While a comprehensive national network is not currently planned, these regional HSR systems could nonetheless have significant impacts on both American mobility and consumer lifestyles in general.
Shrinking Cities
Smaller and Smarter?
In World 1, some cities are shrinking as economic opportunities decrease and people move to suburbs to find cheaper housing or more space. As these cities shrink, residents and policymakers face tough choices about how to manage urban decline in both the near and longer term. Advocates for "smart decline" hope to transform shrinking cities into smaller, leaner, more productive and sustainable hubs of urban life.
Country Profile: Japan
Japan, a World 1 island nation in East Asia, remains the world's second-largest economy. Though prosperous and stable, the country will face mounting demographic challenges as the population ages and shrinks. This brief is one in a series of profiles of selected markets in all three Worlds.
American Generations: Millennials
American Millennials have grown up in a remarkably different world than those of previous generations. As the largest living US generation, Millennials' approaches to everything from work to politics to communications will create ripple effects throughout US consumer lifestyles. This brief, one of a series on the future of four US generations, presents 12 factors that will shape Millennials' lives and choices in the coming decade.
Climate Change and Health
Reframing Climate Change as a Public Health Issue
Climate change is already placing the health and well-being of billions of people at increased risk, according to the first comprehensive study of climate change's impacts on health. Mitigating these risks will require reframing climate change as an urgent public-health issue--and developing new products, services, and models of healthcare and disaster relief.
Images: cloud computing: justgrimes (Flickr); building: pwbaker (Flickr).
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