Between February 2009 and December 2010, we spoke to hundreds of people about the future. A few dozen of these people were nice enough to make predictions about the future.

Some of these predictions took the form of elaborate short stories, or intricate drawings or maps.

Click on their names to see what these participants submitted to the project. (Note: to see these predictions in context, click on "Timeline & findings", above.)

In 2050, I won't be here--I don't expect to live to 105. But I hope my children will have retired here, partly to be near my granddaughters, who will be in their 40's (which is very hard to imagine today).

I love this city because it has so many different kinds of people who, despite strains, are pretty good at sharing it.

And the biggest question mark for 2050 is whether that will still be true. The Green Line is coming to the parts of Somerville where rents are lowest. Will the whole city be gentrified? Davis Square is the example everyone thinks of: it's a great place, but many people can't afford it. But in one of many conversations I've had about this dilemma, a friend suggested that the new Green Line stops may not all become little Davis Squares. There are other neighborhoods near T stops in the Boston area where prices are not out of sight. I hope someone will do some research into what happened in some of these other neighborhoods when the T stops opened. It might be very interesting.

I don't feel very good at predicting technological change, but it does seem that gas prices will go up again and stay up as Asia continues to develop. If that happens, we will be forced to build more public transportation, and more cities will gain good connections--more like cities in Europe. If there are many neighborhoods in the Boston area that have good public transportation, maybe the Green Line's impact on housing costs in Somerville won't be as big as many people fear. I hope so!

(source: Alain Jehlen)