This new year will be pivotal for digital-social transformation, defined by connectivity and fueled by a flourishing creator economy. The symbol of this transformation is already emerging: smart glasses that promise to revolutionize urban life, with cities like Riyadh, London, Osaka, Venice, and also Belem – host to COP30 at the mouth of the Amazon – becoming showcases for this new digital-physical era.
A recent study by Richard Florida on the creator economy – spanning digital content makers, game developers, and online entrepreneurs – conducted across 20 countries shows that there are currently 362 million creators in the world, with India the home to 137 million of them. All together, they generate a direct economic impact of $368 billion. In the United States, the vast majority of these individuals work in creative professions. They also tend to live in urban areas, with two-thirds residing in cities of around one million people, and the rest in metropolises of around five million.
The impact of this creator economy is particularly visible in gaming, a cornerstone of digital creative culture. Platforms like Roblox, which has more than 70 million active creators worldwide, plan to launch new tools in 2025 to enhance creation, monetization, and user engagement. Their goal is to speed up the feedback loop between design and user connection – a model that reflects broader changes in business culture, where different generations increasingly collaborate in hybrid environments. The social impact is significant: according to a Twitch report, gaming helped 89% of users connect with people sharing similar interests, while 81% developed relationships they wouldn’t have found otherwise. Even Microsoft is reinforcing this trend, recently restoring two-way friend requests on Xbox after a decade-long pause.
The scale of gaming’s social impact is evident in Saudi Arabia, which will host the first e-sports Olympics, featuring games like Fortnite, FIFA, and League of Legends. The country has already created Qiddiya City, a district within Riyadh described as the world’s first hub city for gaming. Part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is the goal of redefining how people live, work, and play. The country’s gaming community reflects this ambition, with 23.5 million active gamers, nearly half of whom are women.
This convergence of gaming and urban development presents a unique opportunity for educational institutions. The creator-driven platforms that power gaming communities offer models for immediate feedback and collaborative learning. Just as gaming brings together diverse groups in digital spaces, it can be a powerful tool for both academic and community engagement.
While digital spaces create new opportunities for connection, there are still challenges. According to the WHO, about a third of the population in Europe, the USA, and Latin America feel lonely, a problem that accelerates with urbanization. At a time when creative industries and the knowledge economy are gaining traction, the concept of the 24-hour city worker is evolving beyond its traditional association with nightlife and emergency services. It now encompasses modern lifestyles and digital routines that require keeping in touch, like connecting through video games. This is a cross-cutting issue that affects citizens’ quality of life yet remains largely absent from international urban agenda conversations and the Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2025, cities like Amsterdam, New York, and London will lead the way in merging physical and digital spaces. These cities that never sleep are adapting to diverse lifestyles, remaining open 24-7 and offering constant opportunities for connection.
Society 5.0 was introduced in Japan in 2016 under the vision of a “super-intelligent society.” It was announced as the human-centered paradigm in which technology fuses the digital and physical to promote social and economic development, and responds to pressing challenges such as climate change, urban congestion, and aging populations. These issues remain central today, though we now better understand how virtual and physical integration works in daily life through smartphones.
In 2025, our freedom of movement and sense of immersion will be greater than when virtual reality glasses first came out, when mobility was restricted to specific spaces. The launch of XR smart glasses from Samsung, Ray-Ban Meta, and Xiaomi will enable us to move and interact everywhere, blurring the distinction between indoors and outdoors, gradually freeing us from dependence on cell phones and reshaping our urban experience with AI integration. We will be able to look at our streets and take pictures. We will be looked at and recorded. The deployment of robotaxis in 2025 will further transform urban design and planning. However, this raises critical issues: who will own the data generated by these technologies?
Japan will showcase this vision at the World Expo in Osaka (April-October), where AI-powered healthcare solutions and autonomous transport systems will demonstrate how Society 5.0 principles can reimagine urban life.
In education, smart glasses will have a powerful impact, turning teachers and students alike into content creators, and knowledge will be shared beyond the classroom, without the need for infrastructure. The flexibility in determining the relevance of the context and the location from which content is recorded will transform teachers and students into members of the creator economy. In addition, site visits and familiarization visits will provide an excellent opportunity for business collaboration.
These technological transformations will play out across a uniquely diverse workplace. In 2025, we will be coexisting in a multi-generational social environment of Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), Generation X (1965-1980), Millennials or Generation Y (1981-1996), and those belonging to Generation Z (1997-2012). Four-generation teams are becoming commonplace in the workplace, as is coexisting alongside artificial intelligence agents. Each generational group brings unique characteristics and values to the others, which cannot be managed with one-size-fits-all solutions, requiring tailored approaches instead.
While the pandemic left most of us feeling lonely and isolated at times, Generation Z was arguably the most affected, as it coincided with their entry into the workforce. According to a 2024 RedBox Rx mental health report, 53% of Generation Z have reported feeling lonely, while 52% have experienced a sense of failure in achieving their life goals. Although remote work provides flexibility, it also fosters a sense of disconnection for young professionals embarking on their careers. Building strong networks and fostering real teamwork require mentors and colleagues to exchange ideas and cultivate meaningful workplace relationships, yet these elements often remain absent, leaving young professionals without clear role models.
From May 10 to November 23, 2025, the Venice Architecture Biennale will explore these themes through the lens of design. Curated by architect and urban planner Carlo Ratti, it will examine the future of inclusive, imaginative intelligence beyond current AI constraints. The title “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective” links to the modern concept of “intelligence” while the suffix “gens” alludes to a future of intelligence that is far more ambitious than today’s narrow AI focus. This convergence of perspectives is precisely where the four generations mentioned must come together to shape a collective future for all.
This makes it more crucial than ever for those in university education and global organizations to uphold a universal vision, prioritizing diversity, complexity, and cooperation as foundational principles.
© IE Insights.
