If we grow old today, we will be old. We are no longer part of society, a mere cost factor in a retirement home or nursing home. Do we really want to grow old this way?

Fortunately, we have the future – and it’s really cool! In the future, we will be able to live longer in our neighbourhoods in cities. Why? Because we won’t have to move around so often. Maybe for education. But we always have the option of returning to our neighbourhood, our small town, or our village. Because today we can work for any company in the world.

But if we move less, longer-term structures are built up again in the districts. It’s worth investing more again because we stay on site longer. Let’s take Berlin. In many districts, people have an average length of residence of only seven years. They come, live out the district and leave the rubbish lying around. It’s completely different in cities where people sometimes live for up to 50 years. Here, long-term perspectives are developing, a new form of quality of life – and in the future also the possibility of the family staying together in different flats.

And then, in old age, we remain integrated in the structures of our neighbourhood and are no longer fobbed off with leisure programmes. We will live longer and grow old happier – if that is what we want. But many cities are already developing in exactly this direction, and so are employers. What a beautiful idea for a society of regions. This is the future in its coolest way.

Max Thinius – Futurologist