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Stories for the future of Europe

Join us in exploring the possibilities of the future! Share your future perspectives, discover other people’s visions, and engage in a dialogue on what Europe and the world may look like in the future. We collect, share and distribute your visions in our stories database.

Share your visions of the future!

Your ideas matter – shape the future you want! Share your visions of tomorrow and join us in creating a narrative that inspires citizens, policymakers, and foresight experts. Together, we can co-create the future.

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Stories - find your inspiration!

Stories do shape futures. Dive into the video tutorials to explore how future narratives are born. Further below, browse trough a series of inspiring, thought-provoking stories around challenges and opportunities of our futures.

Share your visions of the future!

Share your visions of the future!

Get inspiration from the Storiesfrom2050 project
Jara and the Gardens - by Johanna Hoffman
Jara and the Gardens - by Johanna Hoffman
The lift clicked to WD, and Jara stepped onto the water dock. Lights from the concrete ceiling glinted off the buoy number sings. She walked the dock to buoy #15 and her rusting green canoe. Other people were into using hoverboats and personal drones to get around, but not her. She liked to take her time moving through the city, through any landscape really. It gave her more chances to look around. Jara sat at the stern and pushed off the dock, plunging her paddle into the water.
The Raccoons - by Radu Gheorghiu
The Raccoons - by Radu Gheorghiu
When Keiron, the ‘wonder of post-circular architecture,’ burned to the ground in 2041, apparently due to a fire that first engulfed the vast sequoia forest in its 54th fold, the continental government gave up. The weather was going to remain insufferable. A private initiative, coordinated by billionaire Ms Bloom, promised to take up the lead. By mobilising over 100 trillion euros from different sources, mixing investment funds and crowdsourcing, the ARCA initiative (from the Romanian translation of the Ark) delivers ‘climate as a service’ to the wealthiest cities and sometimes private domains.
Bela Trust – Technology fixes it all - by Ullrich Lorenz
Bela Trust – Technology fixes it all - by Ullrich Lorenz
It’s January 1, 2050, and the world is celebrating the achievement of “Net Zero Carbon Emission.” The environment is clean, with greenery everywhere. The Sun is shining clear like never before. People travel in the most advanced flying cars and airbuses, yet there is no emission of harmful gases. The journey to net zero has been really painful, but it has paid off.
Pollution - by Alessandro Imperatore
Pollution - by Alessandro Imperatore
“This is the pilot Terence Mal speaking. It’s 6pm on May 21st of the year 2050, on the terrestrial calendar. I am about to start an emergency landing manoeuvre. One of the engines is damaged due to a collision with an asteroid. I will attempt a crash landing on a still unexplored planet that is part of the LAR galaxy.
Play the videos to learn how future narratives are born and how they can be rewritten

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#OurFutures stories by EU citizens

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Das Comeback der Demokratie
Das Comeback der Demokratie
It would be a future in which would-be dictators are put to rest once and for all, in which people can be who they are, at least as long as they do not harm others. A world in which people listen to each other again instead of condemning each other for the smallest offenses. A world in which people focus on the important things, take a pragmatic view of the future, don't give populism a chance and let realism take over.
lepsze jutro
lepsze jutro
In 2040, I imagine a world without traffic jams cars driving on the road will be displaced by hovering cars. Everything will be made more robotic. Plastic will be displaced by greener, biodegradable materials, making people healthier, animals less likely to die and the environment cleaner.
Leben in 2040
Leben in 2040
As I'm getting older, I want to live as lightly as possible. Less work in the garden and more relaxing on the terrace. Everything should be as easy to reach as possible, i.e. shopping facilities, doctors, hospital, swimming pools, physiotherapy practices, etc. There are also plenty of "meals on wheels", as people hardly ever cook for themselves anymore. Cabs should be free so that people are a little less dependent on public transport. Everything should be easily accessible on foot or in a wheelchair.
Ohne Sorge leben!
Ohne Sorge leben!
I wish that all pensioners could live without money worries in old age. I can see for myself that as a severely disabled pensioner I am forced to earn extra money. I can barely make ends meet with my pension. I know others who collect bottles and also work. It would be good if the state did more to address this social injustice. Pensioners who have their own house and land and have worked all their lives to secure their old age are currently being ripped off with high property taxes. This should no longer happen. It is the duty of our government and politicians to think of their own fellow citizens first.
Politik für Menschen und den Planeten
Politik für Menschen und den Planeten
The highest priorities are the environment and peace. Peace on all continents. The global community should also take care of the developing countries. developing countries. Even if there are no coveted raw materials to be exploited there. In order to get the global flow of refugees under control, the reasons for this should be tackled causally. If the economy in poorer countries is promoted and expanded, people will have little reason to leave their country. When it comes to environmental protection and resource consumption, the whole world should pull together. It is not enough for Germany to point the finger and try to be the model pupil while ruining its own economy and the Americans, Chinese, Indians and Russians don't even know what environmental protection and resource conservation means.
2040 début de la sobriété énergétique
2040 début de la sobriété énergétique
on january 1, 2040, the european union will ban all individual vehicles, whatever their mode of propulsion. Subsidies have been distributed European citizens to invest in bicycles, be they 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers or family sedans. All cities are pedestrianized, and to get from one city to another, or from one country to another, numerous train and streetcar tracks have been created. The entire agricultural system has been overhauled and intensive productivity banished. Sobriety is on the march
nous vivons l'ancien, maintenant.
nous vivons l'ancien, maintenant.
I can easily imagine a very different kind of medicine, free at last to bring together all the potential of treatments and therapists. Where body, mind, emotions and the subtle planes will be treated together. The rational will join the holistic. People will take charge of themselves and change or adapt their behavior. The feminine and the masculine will finally be approached differently. Ancestral and archaic patterns will be gently and self-evidently eroded. Our conditioned programs will be able to move, and it will no longer be possible to stay where we are. This is the world that's on the move. It's not yet perceptible, but it's there.
Wird ein Traum Wahrheit?
Wird ein Traum Wahrheit?
I am now 86 years old and still feel really well. The last few years have not been easy, with the war in Ukraine, the fighting in the Middle East and political unrest in all countries leading people in a right-wing direction. Plus politicians who only had their own power in mind. It was difficult, but the common sense of the majority of people has led to a stabilization and consolidation of the political situation. It is important that the people have not drifted further apart and that common ground has once again come to the fore. We can actually be proud of Germany and its poets and thinkers again without feeling ashamed. The economy has become stable and the price hikes have come to an end. Children are getting an education that prepares them for life and makes them strong and intelligent. No one has to worry about falling ill and not being able to pay for necessary medical treatment. And why? - At last, everyone pays into the pension, health and long-term care insurance funds. Politicians are also paid according to the performance principle and are not rewarded with adequate pensions for poor performance or mistakes. It was a tough fight, but it was worth it. Oh yes, and pensioners are no longer a burden, but their lifetime achievements are recognized.
Un espoir de bonheur collectif.
Un espoir de bonheur collectif.
A European future capable of managing international crises with clear and precise objectives. Perhaps a new constitution less oriented towards a liberal economy (which doesn't mean freedom at all) but more towards respect for individual freedoms in relation to multinationals, more ecology, more autonomy in terms of food self-sufficiency. A greater capacity for energy autonomy, too, by being inventive in this area. Mass investment in research in this field would be an option. Regaining our pharmaceutical sovereignty would be reassuring. It would also be reassuring to see a return to social progress, and to stop blaming the weakest members of society (women, the unemployed, immigrants, etc.), who are not responsible for the crises we're going through. The culprits are the economic system (mainly liberal) and over-protected professional politicians. Limiting personal fortunes might be an interesting way of avoiding an oligarchic drift.
Living Good Lives
Living Good Lives
In 2040, I would like to see housing become a human right and to see every human being housed safely and securely. This housing would be guaranteed despite income or employment status. Houses would become affordable through 3-D printing materials and through government social housing schemes, housing lotteries and affordable mortgage schemes. Houses could be owned or rented but everyone is housed. Derelict houses will be renovated and vacant/hoarded properties will not be permitted by landlord. Air BnB will not be allowed post full apartments or houses (only rooms in-house like normal BnBs). This economic and social security would boost local and cultural economies. The cities will belong to the people who live, work, and care there not to multinational corporations or to tourists (though tourists are of course welcome).
Klimaneutrale Bildungsfreundliche Zukunft
Klimaneutrale Bildungsfreundliche Zukunft
I imagine that mobility will become much more individualized - there will be cars/small aircraft that drive autonomously and can be called up at any time from wherever you want to go. Of course, the vehicles are climate-neutral and connected in such a way that there are no traffic jams or delays. Our education starts from an early age (even in kindergarten), there are appropriately small groups/classes. The teachers are well trained and can respond well to the children. So that they learn to enjoy education and feel self-efficacious and open up the world on their own. In school there is no more learning to forget but more knowledge to apply and how to learn. Because developments are very rapid. There won't be one profession that you learn for life. There will be no more truck colonies with enormous consumption, the electricity will come from renewable energies, at every house, garage, crash barrier, etc. Electricity can also be easily stored induvidually. Natural disasters are becoming fewer again, the weather is stabilizing.
Le temps qui passe
Le temps qui passe
The morning sun filtered through the dense foliage of the trees lining my Parisian apartment. Once a gray, noisy avenue, my street was now a verdant oasis, where birdsong replaced the roar of cars. The transformation of Europe had been radical. In 2025, we were on the brink of a climatic precipice. But a global awakening had taken place. Europe had embarked on an ambitious reforestation and sustainable development project. Cities were redesigned, and nature reclaimed its rights. Gasoline-powered cars disappeared, replaced by electric vehicles and efficient public transport. My day began with a bike ride along the old tracks, now transformed into winding cycle paths through parks and forests. Lunch consisted of fresh, local produce grown on rooftops and in community gardens dotted around the city. The afternoon was devoted to work, but even the offices were green and bright, with open coworking spaces and soothing views of the surrounding nature. Life in 2050 was slower, more conscious. We had swapped the frantic race for a pace more respectful of our environment and well-being. Europe had become a model of sustainable development, a society where technology and nature coexisted in harmony. And every day, I was delighted to have contributed, in my own small way, to this transformation.
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