Future prospects in observational galaxy evolution: towards increased resolution

Abstract

Future prospects in observational galaxy evolution are reviewed from a personal perspective. New insights will especially come from high-redshift integral field kinematic data and similar low-redshift observations in very large and definitive surveys. We will start to systematically probe the mass structures of galaxies and their haloes via lensing from new imaging surveys and upcoming near-IR spectroscopic surveys will finally obtain large numbers of rest frame optical spectra at high-redshift routinely. ALMA will be an important new ingredient, spatially resolving the molecular gas fuelling the high star-formation rates seen in the early Universe.