hen we talk about the future, it is usually in positive, Jetsons-like terms—a cleaner, brighter, more efficient time when technology has solved our problems and mankind has been set on a path toward a utopian ideal. Thinking of the future this way is natural and deeply human. Our tendency to default to hope is how we manage to ride out a continual barrage of tragedies and cataclysms. We seem, in some fundamental sense, hard-wired for optimism.

Thank goodness for that.

It hardly needs reiterating at this point, but Baltimore had a terrible 2015. Last April, the death of Freddie Gray from injuries suffered while in police custody ignited long-simmering tensions around race and class in the city, tensions that are not unique to Baltimore, certainly, but that found dramatic expression through both peaceful protests and rioting. Then, in the aftermath of the upheaval, the city’s already robust murder rate skyrocketed, and we finished the year with 344 slain, a grim tally only exceeded by the death toll in 1993, a year when the city had 100,000 more residents.

Undoubtedly, those were the lowlights, but there were other disappointments, too. In June, Gov. Larry Hogan announced the cancellation of the Red Line—the planned east-to-west light rail that, although not universally popular, seemed to promise at least a modicum of literal (as well as economic and social) mobility. Even our teams seemed cowed, with the Orioles returning to lackluster form, and the usually reliable Ravens flat-out sucking.

So, yes, when the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2016, Baltimore was more than ready to turn the page. But to what, exactly? What was waiting for us on the other side? We could reset the calendar, but that wouldn’t magically heal the divisions in the city, issues that must be addressed if Baltimore is to prosper.

“If we’re looking at a community that is experiencing trauma, that’s a symptom,” says Dr. Leana Wen, the city’s health commissioner. “So what is causing the deep trauma? It’s a combination of things. It’s a combination of systemic racism, of injustice, of poverty, of homelessness, of incarceration, of mental health issues that are unaddressed. All of these things are what we must address, too.”

“I’m really, really encouraged about the number of businesses who want to be in Baltimore to be part of the solution.”

With that as the city’s daunting To-Do List, it’s easy to feel discouraged. But to believe that things can’t get better is its own kind of madness, especially when we’re talking about a city with as much potential as Baltimore. To paraphrase Bill Clinton, there is nothing wrong with Baltimore that cannot be cured by what

is right with Baltimore.

“I think that this town has a ton going for it,” says part-time Baltimore resident Patrick Tucker, a professional futurist, who researches, evaluates, and writes about societal trends and predictions. “I used to say [Baltimore] is sort of like Brooklyn 30 years ago—it’s nothing but potential.”

This is true. Baltimore does have tremendous potential. It always has. Its geography, natural resources, diverse institutions, and hardworking, innovative populace combined to make it into one of America’s great metropolises during much of the 19th and 20th centuries. But then, like so many cities in late 20th-century America, it fell victim to disinvestment and all its handmaidens—drugs, crime, blight, corruption, malaise.

Since then, many staggering comebacks have been attempted, some laughably feeble and others yielding a sort of two-steps-forward, one-step-back progress.

So why should Baltimore fulfill its promise now? What’s so different this time? Tucker—and other experts—believe it’s a matter of timing, technology, demographic trends, and tough love.

“Because of advances in information technology, it’s going to become much easier to do more working from home,” explains Tucker. “But that doesn’t mean that people will be able to live in incredibly remote places and never interact with larger, permanent institutions.”

Instead, he says, people will want to live somewhere close to their work. And since Baltimore is within commuting distance to any number of employment centers—such as the region’s colleges and universities, medical institutions, defense contractors, and government entities—while still being affordable and offering a good quality of life, it stands ready to absorb these people.

Tucker is especially confident that Baltimore will continue to attract D.C. commuters, not just because of its geography, but because “as anyone who has ever actually lived in Baltimore knows, it’s definitely more fun than Washington.”

Others agree that the D.C.-commuter effect is likely to continue.

“I’ve never been more bullish on Baltimore,” says Steven Gondol, the executive director of Live Baltimore, a nonprofit that promotes the benefits of city living.

“After the riots, many of us working in community development were disheartened,” he acknowledges. “But our residents wouldn’t let us stay down. When the May housing numbers came out, our sales volume was up 25 percent over 2014! Those double-digit increases held all summer and into the fall. In fact, the last six months have shown the strongest real-estate trends we’ve seen in 10 years or more.”

Others, including William Cole, president and CEO of the Baltimore Development Corporation, are similarly optimistic about Baltimore’s economic forecast.

“I’m really, really encouraged about the number of businesses that have decided to move forward with projects since the unrest, who want to be in Baltimore to be part of the solution,” he says.

Cole says that so much of Baltimore’s potential is derived from its natural and built environments: a deep-water port; highway and rail infrastructure; an international airport just 10 miles from the city’s business core; and plentiful, affordable real estate.

The city’s other great asset, he notes, is its demographics.

“We continue to be one of the fastest-growing urban areas for millennials. We were fourth-fastest in the last numbers that came out, and we are the eighth-largest destination for millennials in the country,” he says.

And, of course, where people go, businesses soon follow, and Cole is already seeing the impact of millennials on formerly depressed areas such as the newly branded Westside of downtown.

“As these young people move in, they need services, which is why you see all these new coffeehouses popping up on the Westside and a Panera can go over there and do well,” he says.

Cole even believes that Baltimore, which has lost more than a third of its population since its peak in 1950, will be able to expand on the meager population growth it has enjoyed since 2000.

“The folks being attracted here now are actively building the kind of city they want to be a part of—and that will make Baltimore great for many years to come.”

And while that is very good news, indeed, what makes us most optimistic is that Cole and other civic leaders seem to understand that, for Baltimore to truly prosper, it can’t just grow, it must also include. It’s not enough for the waterfront neighborhoods and leafy communities of North Baltimore to thrive if East and West Baltimore are left to rot. There cannot be two Baltimores.

“I will never say that the unrest was a blip,” Cole says firmly. “I think it’s something that we have to pay attention to—and we do—because a lot of what we heard from the communities in East and West Baltimore were about job creation, and that’s something that we focus on here every day.”

Cole points to a new 10-year, 80-percent property tax credit for supermarkets locating in—or making significant improvements in—food desert incentive areas as proof that city agencies are interested in the health of all neighborhoods, not just the fancy ones.

West Baltimore is even receiving some long overdue attention, with the state and city pledging a combined $694 million to demolish vacant buildings and stimulate reinvestment.

There are other examples, too, many of them chronicled in the following pages, that inspire even the most cynical among us to think, “Well, maybe this time it’s for real.”

Like Cole, Gondol also acknowledges the riots as a watershed moment for the city. Upsetting though it was, he believes the experience was clarifying.

“Those who would be scared off by April’s events simply don’t belong here,” he says. “The folks being attracted here now are actively building the kind of city they want to be a part of—and that will make Baltimore great for many years to come.”