What A Bunch Of Teenagers Taught Me About the Next Twenty Years
By Ali Ansari
The future doesn’t announce itself. It just shows up quietly.
I thought I understood where things were heading. Then I asked my three Gen Z & A kids having fun with their friends a simple question: How do you want to spend your life?
Their answers weren’t radical. They were practical, obvious to them, but not in sync with how we’ve designed the last fifty years of infrastructure, retail, housing, and work.
What struck me wasn’t what they said. It was how calmly certain they were, like they were describing water flowing downhill and the laws of physics.
THE FIVE REALITIES
Not trends. Not preferences. Realities of the future world.
1. Access Is the New Wealth
Forget the big house dream. That’s over.
These kids don’t want more space. They want less friction.
- Everything important within 10 minutes
- Multiple ways to reach a major city, fast
- Streets they can walk and cycle on
- Communities dense enough to be spontaneous
Here’s what shocked me: Even when they talk about buying homes someday, they only consider suburbs if those suburbs don’t behave like suburbs. They’ll accept less square footage for proximity. They’ll pay more per square foot for connectivity. But they will not under any circumstances trade access for space.
The suburbs that win will be the ones hooked on to a major city.
The shift: A century of “escape the city” has reversed into “bring the city closer.”
2. Retail Space Must Justify the Commute
They can buy anything online. So why leave the house?
Two reasons only:
- It feels like something – atmosphere, theatre, community
- It’s faster than digital – immediacy, tangibility, now
If a physical space offers neither, it’s already dead. It just doesn’t know it yet.
Retailers keep asking “How do we compete with online?” Wrong question.
The right question: “What can we do that a screen cannot?”
Quality without speed fails. Speed without appeal fails. You need all of them now to compete.
The store that survives is a stage, a social hub, and a same-day fulfilment centre simultaneously.
3. Loyalty Is a Subscription They Cancel Monthly
Brands matter intensely to Gen Z/A. They’re not brand-agnostic. They’re brand-fluid.
They’ll champion a brand, wear it like identity, advocate for it publicly but then drop it the second it stops evolving.
Heritage doesn’t protect you. Legacy doesn’t protect you. Being cool three years ago doesn’t protect you.
The loyalty lifecycle has collapsed from decades to quarters.
What this means:
- Your design cycle is short
- Your cultural relevance has a half-life measured in seasons
- Every campaign is an audition for the next one
Prestige still works. Aesthetics still work. But only if they’re in motion. A static product is a dying product. .
4. They’ll Pay More But Only If The Math Adds Up
Gen Z/A will outspend their parents on individual items. But they will not be sold to lazily.
They want:
- Proof of quality (materials, construction, durability)
- Long-term value calculations
- Payment flexibility
This is strategic consumption. They treat purchases like investments even emotional ones and they are looking for exit values at the time of purchase.
The middle dies here. Products that are neither affordable nor demonstrably superior get crushed. Premium survives. But only premium that shows its work.
5. The World Still Follows West
Yes, K-pop exists. Yes, Bollywood is massive. Yes, the economic centre of gravity is shifting east.
But when my kids scroll, when they shop, when they describe what looks “cool”, the aesthetic compass still points to London, Paris, Los Angeles.
Eastern influencers are growing. But look closely: they’re remixing Western streetwear, Western minimalism, Western maximalism. The grammar is still Western. The accent is changing.
This will shift. But not in the next ten years. Maybe twenty.
For now, culture flows outward from the West, even as economic power flows inward to the East.
If you’re building a global product, you design in the West and customize for the East. Not the other way around. Not yet.
THE GROWTH INDUSTRIES
Behavioural shifts are interesting but spending patterns are everything.
Here’s how the Gen Z / As economic activity looks like in future for next 20 years.
1. Lifestyle at HOME
They want more of it but smarter and closer to everything.
What wins: Compact apartments in transit hubs. Co-living with private space and shared amenities. Modular furniture. Gigabit internet as non-negotiable infrastructure.
What dies: Car-dependent subdivisions. “Starter homes” an hour from anywhere.
2. ACCESS
This is the mega-category. This is where wealth concentrates.
What wins: Mobility subscriptions. Multi-modal transit. Dense, walkable infrastructure. Express lanes into cities. Virtual worlds and marketplaces to digitally own and transfer physical and digital assets.
What dies: Car ownership as default. Two-hour commutes. Inaccessible “paradise.”
3. FOOD
Convenience wins but not always. They will wait for quality.
What wins: 15-minute delivery. Meal kits. Ghost kitchens. Dining as social theatre (when they leave the house), Organic and healthier options.
What dies: Weekly grocery trips. Cooking as default. Restaurants without fast reservations systems.
4. IDENTITY
Fashion, beauty, style but faster and more fluid than ever.
What wins: Rental and resale. Flexible payments. Brands that evolve visibly. Products that enable reinvention.
What dies: Static wardrobes. “Investment pieces” that don’t adapt. Slow fashion cycles. Neighbourhoods that don’t provide community value.
5. EXPERIENCES
The only category where “expensive” isn’t a problem, if the experience is real.
What wins: Live events. Travel that’s easy to book and share. Wellness retreats. Social dining.
What dies: Friction. Inaccessibility. Experiences that feel like work.
THE WORK THAT SURVIVES
Spending patterns dictate labour markets. Always have. Always will.
If Gen Z/A spends on access, experiences, and identity then the economy needs people who build, design, and deliver those things.
WHAT GROWS:
- Health & Wellness – because experiences include the body and healing needs a human touch
- Infrastructure Engineering – because home and access requires electrical, mechanical systems, materials and energy.
- Digital Integration – because everything connects to everything and AI is the new personal assistant.
- Experience Design – because memory is the new luxury and experimentation is the new norm.
- Human Connection Work – because screens can’t replace relationships.. not yet at least.
WHAT SHRINKS:
- Rules-based professional work – that’s for AI and Agentic software now.
- Administrative middle layers – Decisions don’t need human support anymore. LLMs with the right information help make good choices.
- Routine technical execution – but there is huge work on transformation for next two decades
- Non-experiential retail – we know this already
The dividing line: Can your job be reduced to a flowchart? If yes, it’s temporary. If no, it’s essential but only if you pair human judgment with technical literacy.
The future workforce is technically fluent, creatively agile, and deeply human. Pick two and you’ll survive. Master all three and you’re irreplaceable.
