Trying to predict the future is an aspiration that distinguishes us as humans. In the 2024 Next Llobregat Yearbook, which La Vanguardia readers can consult for free from today, its 444 pages outline the events of the next 10,000 days south of the Barcelona metropolitan area through fifty interviews with prominent figures. representatives of generation Z from l'Hospitalet and Baix Llobregat.
They are young people chosen because they already excel in different fields, such as acting (actors and musicians), entrepreneurship, sports in various disciplines, scientific research, social and neighborhood leadership, journalism, the world of startups, renowned chefs, political leaders and students who have received awards for obtaining the best grades in their class. A leadership that they will surely maintain in the future, according to the publisher BCN Content Factory.
Along with the in-depth interviews, the Yearbook 2024 Next Llobregat proposes eight present and future scenarios. In the Artificial Generation chapter he addresses the nihilism and humanism of young people; Intergenerational Coexistence is about diversity and whether the new generations accept to share with the elders or whether it is ageist; In Polarized and Angry, an x-ray is made of the extremisms that dominate our societies; The chapter Let there be light highlights the scientific leadership of the Castelldefels Campus of the UPC, with leading centers such as the Institute of Photonic Sciences; Equal Opportunities addresses education and why our teenagers have obtained the worst grades in the PISA tests; Tracing Talent deals with culture in its broadest expression, while Women analyzes the causes why Europe still needs 67 years to end the gender gap, although women in the West are now living the best era in history. The last scenario, titled Future Occupation, anticipates what work will be like in the coming decades, when Chat GPT and Artificial Intelligence will be the smartest interns.
Do young people go through everything? How do they see the world they are inheriting? Have they distanced themselves from politics, including the closest one, municipal politics? Are they so hooked on social media that they will end up with dependency and mental problems? All generations have always asked themselves similar questions. In this 2024 Next Llobregat Yearbook, we are betting on the young leaders who will have to lead us in the future to the horizon of 2050. The journalist and editor Juan Carlos Valero will then be 92 years old, “if he is alive, but all the protagonists who parade through "This publication will be about to turn 50 or so and they will be responsible for our society," he points out before adding that the young journalists who interviewed them also belong to the same generation, so the dialogue has occurred between equals.
Emancipation, access to housing, savings, European elections, mental health, employment possibilities, couples... The generation that will lead our future in the Llobregat territory speaks loud and clear. Never before have these youth been so prepared and few media before have given them visibility to speak with such honesty. The image and its impact on self-esteem, the importance of references, love in the different stages of life, the role that Artificial Intelligence will have in society, the search for a sustainable lifestyle or bullying are other the themes discussed in this work.
“We wanted to get closer to young people in 2024, basing the content on the big issues that are linked to their real interests,” Valero emphasizes. All this, with a very visual language and a fresh edition. A format that relies on the depth and sincerity of the interviews and the cultural, social and economic diversity of the chosen young people. Thus, it is they themselves who break or underline the stereotypes that society assigns to them. In your hands is your own future, but also that of our society.
