Megatrends and Sustainable Development

The last decades of the twentieth century and the beginning of the third millennium saw the significant acceleration of globalization processes, which has fundamentally changed and is still changing the world order and the face of the Earth. The qualitative changes that affect the nature of today’s global economy require measures necessary for the adjustment to the reality and the specific nature of international relations. This is of particular importance for the principle of sustainable development, which depends on the on-going civilizational change largely shaped by the social expectations. Therefore, the analysis of megatrends in the future civilizational changes becomes essential in the context of the achievement of sustainable development, which is discussed in this article. The discussion focuses on the processes of urbanization, the development of air transport, public networking, institutional changes, and the environment, which have been identified as the key elements of civilizational change in the 2050 horizon, determining sustainable development in its economic, social, and environmental dimension.