The year is 2050. The center of Boston is bustling with arts venues, restaurants with late-night menus and college students.

• This isn't downtown, but the city's geographical center and the face of Black Boston: Nubian Square.

Why it matters: The Roxbury neighborhood is in the throes of major redevelopment, and business leaders envision a future that bolsters the local economy while preserving the area's culture and diversity.

Between the lines: Boston's Black Mecca has survived urban renewal, riots sparked by racism, decades of disinvestment and the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Barring any freak accident that decimates the neighborhood, Nubian Square is poised to live on and thrive into 2050, local business leaders and residents say.
• What's less certain is how climate change, traffic and gentrification will shape the majority-Black neighborhood.

State of play: Developers, business leaders and advocates are transforming Nubian Square, planting the seeds for a prosperous city center, from upcoming developments with artist housing and college classrooms to new liquor licenses and creative spaces.

Fast-forward to 2050: Nubian Square is home to small businesses, arts venues and nightlife, while local colleges churn out climate and tech workers, Nicole Obi, CEO of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts.

🚌 Transportation: The neighborhood's traffic may persist if people keep relying on cars, but Imari Paris Jeffries, executive director of Embrace Boston, envisions a transportation hub powered by electric buses and more walkable streets for residents.

• Ciyadh Wells, executive director of the Black arts organization Castle of Our Skins, sees Nubian Square being less walkable due to traffic.
• "Unfortunately, I think this area will always be transportation-challenged," Wells, a Roxbury resident, tells Axios.

👨🏾‍🔬 Workforce: If successful, the neighborhood's colleges will be producing top talent for the climate, biotech and tech sectors, Obi predicts.

• Everyone from entrepreneurs to politicians will be applying AI in their work.

🎵 Culture and nightlife: Picture an 18-hour scene with restaurants, musical performances and events for all ages.

• For Nubian Square to reemerge as a commercial center, it must be a place where locals live, work and play from the morning to late at night, Obi says.
• Wells envisions a neighborhood where people pay homage to its past and celebrate who they are, be it through the library, her Black arts organization Castle of Our Skins or other venues.

🛍️ Commerce: Nubian Square is poised to draw shoppers and locals in 2050 like it did in the days of Nubian Notion and the music venue Roscoe's, historian Dart Adams predicts.

• Back in the 20th century, the demolition of the elevated train and efforts to focus commerce in Downtown Crossing dealt a blow to then-Dudley Square.
• Adams foresees the neighborhood fulfilling the vision that leaders had for downtown.

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One of the biggest challenges facing Roxbury ahead of 2050 is maintaining the fabric of its racially and ethnically diverse community.

The big picture: City after city has seen neighborhoods revitalized only for residents who spent generations there to get priced out, from Brooklyn to Boston's South End.

• A 2020 study on displacement suggests that gentrification disproportionally affects Black residents, pushing them outside of their neighborhood and, sometimes, outside of their city altogether and into disadvantaged areas.

The Nubian Square of 2050 has more residents — a mix of homeowners and renters in market rate and affordable apartments, says Imari Paris Jeffries, executive director of Embrace.

• Both Obi and Jeffries expressed concerns about gentrification, but say a variety of homeownership and affordable housing options — as well as investment in and collaboration with local businesses — can ensure the neighborhood's longtime residents don't get pushed out by 2050.

Zoom out: Roxbury residents will likely still contend with extreme heat and flooding, a racial wealth gap of some form and other hurdles.

• Black Americans' wealth is expected to drop to zero by 2053, per a report by Prosperity Now and the Institute for Policy Studies.

Yes, but: Despite those hurdles, Roxbury residents and community leaders envision Nubian Square as a paragon of Black cultural and financial success well into the 21st century.

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💸 Gov. Healey plans to file an energy affordability bill within the next eight weeks as households struggle with skyrocketing utility bills. (Axios)

Karen Read, who faces a second murder trial over her boyfriend's death, filed a motion to dismiss all charges against her yesterday, alleging "extraordinary government misconduct." (WHDH)

• Read's defense maintains that Read was the victim of a cover-up and flawed police work.

The feds rehired the five JFK Library employees who were laid off last week. (Globe)

A grassroots movement called The People's Union USA is calling on Americans to abstain from shopping with major retailers tomorrow as part of an "economic blackout."

Why it matters: The economic protest isn't the first, but it comes as many everyday Americans struggle to keep up in the current financial landscape, characterized by high housing costs, surging egg prices and stubborn inflation.

State of play: The protest calls on consumers to avoid all unnecessary purchases, either in-person or online, from midnight Thursday through midnight Friday.

Zoom in: Jonathan Jefferson, president of Roxbury Community College, said during a Boston Globe event that people have an opportunity to show their economic power.

• "Support Black businesses, but also boycott the businesses that are not supporting Black businesses," he said.

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Shout out to Sullivan's Castle Island, which won an America's Classics Award, the James Beard Foundation announced yesterday.

• Sullivan's joins the ranks of Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe and Galleria Umberto in Boston.