Over the past several weeks, our city has heard from some of our brightest minds, each offering a vision for what Chicago can become by 2050.

What stood out most to me wasn’t only the ambition of these ideas, but also the belief behind them. Chicago’s future isn’t something we wait for. It’s something we choose to build together.

At its core, Chicago 2050 to me is about delivering on a simple truth: that every resident, in every neighborhood, is able to live, work and thrive in a safe and affordable city.

That looks like every child in Chicago having access to a fully resourced community school, robust mental healthcare, and communities free from violence and other forms of despair that have devastated too many families and neighborhoods.

It looks like a city leading in advanced manufacturing, clean energy and innovation, while building an economy that works for everyone. One where culture, creativity and commerce aren’t competing forces, but connected engines of growth and prosperity.

It means developing vacant lots and reversing decades of disinvestment by building single-family homes, missing-middle flats, and denser residential in communities across our city as we expand housing access and affordability for every Chicagoan and every neighborhood.

Chicago is already the nation’s most desirable destination for recent college graduates, and more affordable housing options will only increase our appeal. By attracting these energetic new residents and supporting our existing ones, we can turbocharge the city’s growth. I’ve said before we can conservatively fit 400,000 more people in Chicago — but why make little plans?

2050 isn’t far away. The young people sitting in our classrooms today will be the adults shaping our city tomorrow. The decisions we make now will determine whether they inherit a city prepared to offer opportunity across every community — or one marred by inequity and disinvestment.

As mayor, I’m committed to ensuring we build the Chicago our children deserve.

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This essay is part of a series developed in collaboration with World Business Chicago wherein accomplished authors envision what Chicago could and should look like in 2050.

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At a time of rapid global change, our city must be prepared for technological transformation, shifts in the workforce and the demands of a more competitive global economy. That preparation requires more than vision. It requires investment, urgency and leadership.

Because economic development only succeeds when the people who call this city home succeed alongside it.

My administration has already begun laying the foundation for Chicago’s future.

We’re extending the Red Line to connect Far South Side residents to opportunities across the city. We’re investing in youth employment to give young people a chance to build brighter futures for themselves and their families. We’re delivering safety by reducing violent crime to 65-year lows by integrating constitutional policing, community violence interruption and neighborhood investments.

We’re investing in connectivity and growth by modernizing O’Hare International Airport and advancing large developments like Bally’s Casino, the 1901 Project and the Chicago Fire stadium to show Chicago is open for business while revitalizing the Near North, West and South sides. We’re simultaneously revitalizing downtown by expanding market-rate and affordable housing in the financial district while catalyzing major transformation on the South and West sides through projects such as PsiQuantum, Advocate Trinity Hospital, LeClaire Courts and Sankofa Village Wellness Center.

We’re removing barriers to development, unlocking investment and making it easier to build in all 77 neighborhoods. We’re expanding affordable housing through the groundbreaking Green Social Housing program and investing hundreds of millions of dollars in public-private affordable housing development in every community. And we’re strengthening protections against environmental harm in communities that have too often carried the burden of pollution. The world is taking notice of the progress. That’s why Chicago is setting tourist and hotel occupancy records while O’Hare has reclaimed its title as the nation’s busiest airport.

This is what laying the groundwork looks like.

As a father raising children in this city, I take that responsibility personally. I know the talent that exists in every neighborhood. I know the dreams that live in every classroom. And I know that if we fail to invest in Chicagoans, we risk leaving too many people behind.

That is not a future we can accept.

Chicago has never been a city that waits for change. We build. We organize. We lift one another up. And we move forward together.

And when history tells the story of this era, let it say this about Chicago: that in a divided and uncertain time, this city chose hope over fear. That while others pulled apart, Chicago came together. That we believed every child — on every block, in every neighborhood — deserved a future worthy of their potential.

Let it say our city — shaped by workers and organizers, immigrants and builders — reminded the world what America can be at its best.

Brandon Johnson is the mayor of Chicago.

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