Authors

Silvia Castellazzi

Senior Research Team @Politecnico di Milano

Giulia Lisoni

Junior Research Team @Politecnico di Milano

The Near Future “INTERCONNECTED WELLBEING | Navigating Uncertainty, Embracing Relationships” involves forging diverse connections and enriching our social fabric, playing a pivotal role in shaping our identity. Its origin from the Place Relational Proximity, is in the existential atmosphere of Navigating Uncertainty – an element of the “landscape”, not removable from our current and foreseeable human condition – but also in the desire for Embracing Relationships, with a proactive and open movement toward other people. The Place Relational Proximity emerges at the crossroads of three domains of the Wheel of Wellbeing: Emotional, Social and Environmental. Emotional wellbeing entails that we are not passive recipients of societal norms, but active architects of the future. Acknowledging the significance of emotional intelligence becomes a key lever in shaping the society of tomorrow. By fostering emotional education and embracing emotional diversity, we lay the groundwork for a society that thrives on empathy, understanding, and resilience. Social wellbeing invites us to rethink the allocation of our time and energy, not just within the confines of our professional lives but in how we engage with ourselves and the society around us. It challenges the prevailing notion that the value of things is solely derived from our work output. Environmental wellbeing is a holistic approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of personal wellbeing with the broader ecological and societal tapestry. In this paradigm, resilience becomes a cornerstone—more than a response to challenges, it's a proactive stance, an anticipation of the unpredictable. Flexibility extends beyond adaptability; it's an ingrained quality that allows individuals not only to weather storms, but to dance with the rhythm of change. The Place of Relational Proximity has been explored by participants focusing on a Wellbeing that has been defined as interconnected – based on the awareness that the Wellbeing we are striving for will not be possible, or even desirable, in isolation but rather emerges from the Interconnectedness of individuals and lives (see Figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1 Wellbeing @ RELATIONAL PROXIMITY: Near Future.

The construction of the near future within this Place has started by identifying and formulating key Themes of reflection. Four Themes have guided the development of the near future “INTERCONNECTED WELLBEING | Navigating Uncertainty, Embracing Relationships” (see Figure 5.2).

• Educating ourselves and each other to emotions and sentiments: The desire for stronger connections and warmer relations is also based on the ability to acknowledge and interpret both the owns’ and others’ emotions and sentiments – an ability too often overseen in today’s society. Fuelled by changes in societal roles and aspirations, emotional awareness and respect becomes fundamental to expand our connections and feel welcomed and accepted in several instances. The Future Forces related to Rise of Digital Therapeutics (FF16), Towards a Wellbeing Economy (FF19) and Emotional Education (FF20) are underlying this sub-theme of the Near Future.
• Embracing and normalizing diversity: Not only in the workplace arises the desire for stronger equality and inclusion, also in the relations with others, with individuals we do not know yet very well, people strive for a softer acceptance and the right to be embraced with kind words and tones. This concerns also living with special health conditions: pathologies (and living with them) is not hidden anymore, but is rather shared through social media to increase awareness, information – and to feel less lonely. The Future Forces related to Surge in Prosociality (FF10), Social Uprisings , Mobilization and Inclusion (FF21) and The Powerful Connection Between Inclusion and Wellbeing (FF22) are underlying this sub-theme of the Near Future.
• Prioritizing collective happiness over relentless productivity: The discourse over the actual measure of a society output has changed and will be changing: alternative indicators to GDP have been created to measure and make explicit the value of economic development for people and for the environment. Also policy makers increasingly consider levers to orient policies to new goals and objectives relevant for individuals, such as wellbeing and happiness. Wellbeing and happiness have a collective dimension that can be addressed as part of policy efforts. Citizens are more and more engaged in design and planning of local activities and their shaping, thus increasing the perceived contribution and sense of self. The Future Forces related to Wellbeing-Centric Economic Model (FF24) and Increasing Awareness of Citizens’ wellbeing (FF25) are underlying this sub-theme of the Near Future.
• Living the spatial and relational proximity in urban agglomerates: Discovering and nurturing close relations and a pleasant environment brings us back to our most proximal connections and daily-life aspects: shopping for grocery, resting in a garden, chatting with a neighbour. Together with public local administrations, we strive for and design cocoons where we feel safe, welcome, recognized and in harmony – reshaping day to day activities such as schools, retail, green areas. This is carried out with a specific attention to the developments of climate change and their impact on our wellbeing. The Future Forces related to The Age of Loneliness (FF04), 15 Minutes Cities (FF23) and Attention to Greenness and Nature (FF26) are underlying this sub-theme of the Near Future.

To address the construction and reflection of distant futures along these themes, the starting point is the analysis and discussion of a set of relevant Future Forces identified through desk research, formulated in statements and backed up by evidences and sources. The material informs the approach to the discussion, stimulating the reflection of stakeholders. In the first phase, such Future Forces are read, deepened and critized, benefitting from the different professional and personal perspectives of stakeholders. Future Forces are the first elements of a Future that is rather Near and therefore quite close and possibly familiar. Future Forces 19, 21, 23, 24, and 25 related to the increasing attention to Wellbeing, both at organizational but also at macro-economic and political level, are quite familiar to stakeholders and capture a shared feeling of the increasing attention and coordination for the topic of Wellbeing. Particularly relevant for discussion are Future Forces 4, 10 and 22, related to the emotional and more intimate space of relations – such as those related to sociality, gratuity, loneliness, inclusion, coupled with the evidence on the increasing attention for Emotional Education (20). Elements related to the digitalization and accessibility of therapies (16) as well as the current forces supporting increasing attention to green and nature (26) were discussed and enriched by the experiences of participants, and the first seeds of desire for a different future trajectory started to emerge, as the next section and the reflection on Surprising Signals of Change and on Future Forces shows.

Figure 5.2 Wellbeing @ RELATIONAL PROXIMITY: Future Forces.

Figure 5.2 Wellbeing @ RELATIONAL PROXIMITY: Future Forces.

Distant Futures

The Distant Futures of the Place Relational Proximity are depicted below:

RELATIONAL PROXIMITY | Distant Futures