In connection with the Nordic Museum's 150th anniversary, the museum has a digital collection, open to everyone, where Swedes can submit how they wish and think the future will look.

Both from a personal perspective, but also from a global perspective.  

- The Nordic mueet has the task of collecting the memory of life and work in Sweden.

With this collection, we want to broaden the time perspective, we think that the social debate today is rather short-term, says Jörgen Löwenfeldt, project manager for the Nordic Museum's digital channels. 

The question of what the future will look like is asked in a time marked by pandemic, war in Europe and climate crisis, which will be seen in the answers, says Jörgen Löwenfeldt. 

- There are so many parallel crises now, so future issues are extra relevant.

Through the collection, we create a debate about how we want to live, but the answers also become a time capsule about what the mood is like in society.

He ticked a lot of boxes

The Nordic Museum asked the same question about the future to two hundred Swedes in 1997. Some of the answers, together with interviews with the letter writers, are published on the museum's website.

One of those who sent in his answer in 1998 was Örjan Hedenberg, who managed to get many things right in his future exploration.

He wrote, among other things, that due to limited resources, the gap between different population groups would increase, along with the likelihood of armed conflict.

Örjan Hedenberg also said that food would become more expensive, immigration to Europe would increase and that countries would more or less close their borders.

- Yes, it fit quite well.

When I wrote this, I started from what society looked like then and added one by one, says Örjan Hedenberg to Kulturnyheterna.

Believe in a bright future

When asked what the future looks like 20 years from now, he replies that he believes that the countryside will become more important because we will have to become more self-sufficient in food.  

- You hear all the time about misery on the news, but in reality it gets better and better all the time, says Örjan Hedenberg.  

See Örjan Hedenberg's forecast for the next 30 years in the clip above.