Our urban future and CSR in the year 2040

When looking at issues concerning CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) we tend to look at the present and near terms issues. How can companies modify their behaviour today and tomorrow to better integrate worker’s rights, fair trade, sustainable practices and global environmental awareness? Each of these topics and many more are being reviewed and often incorporated in good faith but what of the longer terms future? Where might we be in 30 years time and how well are corporations, local governments and citizens preparing for the new landscape?

I found a great website and series of articles/scenarios today from the site ‘Forum for the Future’ which looks in depth at different future scenarios while in tandem providing solutions that incorporate CSR at a personal, local and regional level – each facet contributing to what we can see as more than a target but more objectively a necessity. What large companies and governments accomplish to prepare for a vastly different future will be critical but the products and services will be the result of the demands of consumers – and better informed consumers just might be the pivotal piece of this.

So what will the world look like in 2040? According to the report – very different and far more urban:

• By 2040, two out of three people will live in cities
• The world’s urban population will skyrocket from 3.5 billion to 5.6 billion
• Urban planning – especially transportation might be the most important matter facing city dwellers

The site offers intriguing scenarios that almost verge on being chaotic but conversely provide solution models to combat the potential hazards we will face such as shortages in food, water and energy, extreme weather variations and transport networks that are far beyond capacity. If the scenarios look awful it’s probably because they are and without adequate planning and a commitment to new technology, improved infrastructure and perhaps hardest of all – the way we think – the urban gridlocks being forecast become ever more likely. While 30 years may seem a long way down the road, that path must result in a reduced reliance on the automobile – cars and cities just won’t work for long term commuting. Even the workplace needs to change – if a job can be done virtually or via a walk or bicycle ride then why take a fossil fueled vehicle for a 10 mile spin each morning?

Long-term urban planning can prove to be the key to our urban successes or failures in the decades to come – reports like this should help voters know what they really should seek from their metropolis and which cities are incorporating a CSR model into their long term goals. Preparation starts now and as Peter Madden from the Forum says – the cities will be key:

“We are seeing the largest migration to cities in history. How those cities develop today will lock in behaviour for decades to come. The future wellbeing of billions of people depends on the action we take now. The global race for sustainability will be won or lost in the streets of our megacities.”

Please take the time to visit the Forum for the Future website, the reports and scenarios are thought provoking, measured and a vital glimpse of our future.