ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a might be called "by-the-numbers predictions," in that a significant and growing weight of public opinion already supports them. One of the most far-reaching trends researchers see is the emergence of the collaborative economy, including collaborative production and consumption. While still a subculture, this is already assuming the proportions of a mega-trend in industrialized countries, toward what can be called the "New Realism". In the collaborative economy, co-housing may well replace the condominium as the dominant real estate trend, especially for the married and retired segments of the market. As the collaborative economy gains market share, it will become a key context and driver for real progress on sustainability, in that it enables people to do more with less by sharing resources. Cloud computing is but another example of the collaborative economy working throughout the value chain, with users sharing massive file storage facilities rather than owning their own.
