Community participant predictions

March 2015
Fleet of mobile libraries begins circulating through Somerville. Vans full of books and other print material; home-repair tools; bike-repair tools; gardening implements and supplies; media-making technologies; art supplies; and musical instruments rotate through Somerville's squares on a weekly basis. Community members can borrow from these communal collections for short-term projects.
(source: Alana Kumbier. To see all of her predictions, click here.)

---

No dates given
Every door to every business in Somerville is now fitted with a microgenerator, so every time people enter and exit shops, restaurants, and offices, they will be helping to power the electrical grid.
(source: Adam Olenn. To see all of his predictions, click here.)

---

Tim Devin's old landlady gives him his old apartment on Charnwood for free, because she misses him so much.
(source: Tim Devin. To see all of his predictions, click here.)

---

The Green Line, which is slated to expand to Medford in 2014, opens sometime between 2015-2017. "It's a shame really when you think about how fast they can build these things in Europe or China."
(source: Andrew Lynch. To see all of his predictions, click here)

(image source: Andrew Lynch. Click here to see the full map)

---

Zip Car has become a very popular and reliable service in Somerville, causing residents to give up their cars. Driveways become gardens; air quality improves, along with children's health. The newly clean Mystic River Parkway becomes a popular family destination.
___ Most businesses ban styrofoam, and eliminate plastic bags; composting and recycling minimize litter and trash. People purchase products with minimal packaging, to further reduce waste.
(source: Maureen Barillaro. To see all of her predictions, click here.)

Other predictions

October 2015
The Green Line expansion is completed.
(source: MBTA announcement, Summer 2010)

---

No dates given
There are 550 cities worldwide with populations over 1 million people.
(source: Attali, "A brief history of the future: a brave and controversial look at the twenty-first century")

---

Resources and food supplies give way. Water shortages. Violent riots worldwide. Security community and right-wing politicos try to cope with breakdown of national governments and rise of international corporations by forming the Alliance for Global Salvation. This attempt causes left-wingers to unite.
(source: Tellus Institute, "The crisis of 2015")

---

National governments start asserting themselves. Sustainable development is pushed.
(source: Tellus Institute, "The great transition")

---

The world's population is 7.2 billion. Half live in cities. Half do not have sufficient access to water. Water scarcities in Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and China, causing regional tensions.
___ The United States continues to be a major force in the world community, but its economy suffers a sustained downturn. This has a deleterious economic and political effect on the rest of the world.
(source: National Institute of Science, "Global trends 2015")