My Trend Predictions that will Launch into 2023
Something you probably didn’t know about me – I’m an enthusiastic trendspotter and love reading and writing about these little things that I see and that pop into my head. I’ve spoken about and written about so many issues related to how we will be doing business in the future and how the pandemic accelerated so many initiatives that we were only talking about. I am an optimist and view change whether it be by choice or not, as an opportunity to pivot and take another path. Sometimes that is not possible, but I certainly try.
I follow a few trendspotters, like Marian Salzman, who is a globally recognized leader and trendspotter, and her team of trendy members. I am in awe about how right they are most of the time when they publish their annual predictions. Of course, predicting trends is not something that you pull out the air. It is data driven and thoughtful. Here are some of the trendspotting predictions I agree with:
ü Chaos, chaos, chaos – we will continue to live an upside down, unpredictable world for a long while enhanced by the neve ending stream of news and social media. These forever changes to our lives are opportunities and as humans we need to embrace them.
ü Hybrid work and school – not going away. Business and education will continue to adjust and create flexible, agile work and education environments in order to maintain and grow. The 9-5 business model will be dead. A 24-hour model will be highlighted to accommodate human behavior how people work and learn. We will continue to engage in a cyber induced culture.
ü Community engagement – Communities will change to 10–20-minute towns and cities as people change the way they live and do business. We are and will continue to demand easy, affordable and safe mobility including walkability, biking and public transit. People’s focus will be on family time demanding business and educators balance these requirements.
ü Environmental sustainability – ev charging, smart buildings sending power to the electric grid to reduce utility downtime during unpredictable natural disasters and weather patterns which are totally chaotic.
ü Mental Health – anxiety, stress and fatigue will persist, confirming the ongoing need for community engagement. public gathering spaces, greening and open space investments.
ü Education – the perceived uber expensive, debt ridden, mandated 4 year and beyond college degree will no longer be the only good option. Upskilling in the form of certificates and shorter achievements are predicted as a way for people to achieve growth and monetary compensation.
And my favorite prediction:
ü Online shopping and 3D printing– online shopping has exploded since the pandemic and it doesn’t seem like there will any end in sight. It is causing all sorts of curb management issues, traffic congestion and greenhouse emissions. The prediction is that 3D printing will become household mainstreamed with people creating their own items and brands in house. This will happen in slow motion but is expected to be fast tracked in the not-too-distant future. This phenomenon will give people creative control over shopping, reduce packaging and transportation costs ultimately reducing our crazy carbon footprint, enhance sustainability. Eye opening for all the creatives and techies out there.
SOME MORE TRENDY THOUGHTS:
Municipalities play a significant role in making things happen. They need to continue to be agile and adapt to tremendous challenges since the pandemic.
Despite the never-ending obstacles including the pandemic, Ukrainian war, tense politics, rising crime rates, supply chain disasters, inflation, infrastructure and safety challenges we are seeing a lot of progress in our communities. This is evident in the large amount of private and government (federal, state and local) investment in transportation, placemaking, green infrastructure, technology, communication. All in an effort to create sustainable, resilient, affordable, equitable and safe spaces by developing investment opportunities and partnerships to execute these projects.
These include investment such as biking, and electric vehicle infrastructure, piloting free assessable public transportation, and continuing to help close the digital divide.
Launching into the new year, 2023, I predict that these initiatives will continue to be highlighted.
ü Data and technology will help close the digital divide - We are more tech savvy, but we still have issues in closing the digital divide in different ways. There are still issues with affordability, Wi-Fi infrastructure, knowledge and human understanding. Now more than ever we will have to focus on using technology to improve equity and communication for community and neighborhood residents, with a particular emphasis on bridging the digital divide that separates those with access to high-speed internet from those without. This will require public/private partnerships and an organized outreach effort using different modes of communication.
ü Municipalities will need to create improved curb management programs - Pre Covid, we already were a group of online shoppers and amazon junkies. This behavior will continue to increase and are here to stay. This has caused major traffic congestion, hazardous pollution emissions due to ride share, deliveries and commercial vehicle activity, creating unsafe walkability and biking. We are already seeing municipalities tackle this issue through infrastructure improvements and monetization.
ü Enhanced climate change commitments - With the Federal Infrastructure funding, the collective desire to create safer and equitable communities; we will see bundled solutions through partnered initiatives vs siloes verticals taking action. Increased focus will be placed on preparation for natural disasters, climate events and other issues by investing in technology that makes cities run more efficiently and seamlessly, no matter the situation. Grid capacity will be recognized as a choke point that will largely be solved by smaller microgrids and other off-grid solutions.
ü Technology advances will foster stronger trust and civic participation - We have already seen a rapid growth in public and private customer service systems through technology but also through in person engagement. We will continue to create engagement systems through all communication methods whereby the public is empowered to understand and shape development from the start rather than be imposed after the fact. With all the tech advances and uses, this will lead to more ransomware attacks and higher cybersecurity systems.
ü Libraries will be a central resource hub - Public libraries are and will be the hub for social interaction, community programming, rebuilding communities, workforce development, entrepreneurship, and positive social change and advancement. Libraries are the best place for free and open access for everyone to books, resources, programming, bridging the digital divide, raising knowledge, and fact-checking.
ü Innovation - We will continue to collaborate with public private partnerships and investment. Siloed verticals will be broken in an effort to create sustainable communities.
Let’s launch into 2023 together. What are your predictions?
Happy New Year!
President and CEO TPMConnect
kathryn.hebert@tpmconnect.com
203-994-3408
Immediate Past President NEPC
Board Member IPMI