Tomorrow’s Homes: Pandemic-era social trends and their impact on the built environment
Launched 21st November 2022
‘Tomorrow’s Homes: pandemic-era social trends and their impact on the built environment’ is a new report published this week and commissioned jointly by architect and masterplanner ADAM Architecture, and landowner and property developer Blenheim Estate Homes.
Read the full report >
Read the Executive Summary >
Drawing on data from a wide range of research papers and reports, the majority published in the last three years, and in areas covering housing, health and wellbeing, transport and residential and commercial property, Tomorrow’s Homes clearly demonstrates what will be required to fulfil our future housing requirement in terms of both what we want and what we need to live.
It also draws conclusions about our expectations for the amenity and infrastructure of our towns and cities for a healthy lifestyle for both work and recreation and how factors such as changing working practices, car use and the climate emergency may mean that radical change is needed in the way we plan our future towns and how we adapt existing conurbations to meet future needs.
The report highlights a number of vital elements for consideration in future development, among them:
- Good connectivity and public transport.
- Better facilities for essential shopping and recreation closer to home.
- A range of home types to meet trends for single living and needs of multi-generational occupation including the elderly.
- Meeting ‘green’ expectations through energy efficient design, EV charging, use of ethically sourced materials, and a commitment to biodiversity net gain.
- Creating walkable and ‘cyclable’ neighbourhoods for both residential and commercial use.
- More extensive local green space.
- Putting people first and not the car.
Moreover, the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the need for internal layout changes to houses too such as:
- Raising the requirement for acoustic insulation with the home being used for both living and working.
- Moving towards study bedrooms and other demands for individual home working spaces.
- Super-fast broadband.
This research also builds upon our 2014 publication Tomorrow’s Home: Emerging social trends & their impact on the built environment