Future Cities
Creating Connection
By: Laura Barr, Americas Retail Leader
November 8, 2023 3 Minute Read
Our Physical Environment Has Everything to Do With How We Experience Our Lives
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Learn MoreDid you notice how amorphous time felt during those two-plus years of the pandemic? Most of us spent our time in the same spaces, and the monotony of place made memories harder to sort.
It turns out that any memory we store is inextricably linked to the physical environment where we experienced it.
The retail world has been focused on driving visits through experiences for more than a decade—a concept that emerged as a response to digital disruption. This concept has now become so engrained that brands without experience compete on price alone, are commoditized, and risk consumer indifference and marketplace irrelevance.
That disruption also prompted deliberations around in-person versus virtual shopping (foreshadowing today’s hybrid work and return to office debate). Retail has long been navigating this false dichotomy. We know that consumer brands can maximize sales when they focus on both channels.
But we need to think beyond this baseline.
How do our spaces and experiences become more people-oriented to drive connections?
The experience of shopping for a mattress or eyeglasses, visiting the doctor or dentist, or going to the vet has long been uninspiring. Consumer brands have improved each materially. They understand that the built environment can provide a place where we develop connection to and build trust with their brand—and thus are likely to part more easily with our money.
We’ve seen a similar evolution across entertainment, travel and healthcare.
Consider sports venues: I’m a fan of traditional ballpark fare, but if an elevated experience with local food, cocktails and wine is also available, my experience expands.
And who’d think a stop at a local restaurant to grab food would be at the airport—after landing? I’ve done it a few times at SFO and had a colleague praise a recent French meal at Montréal's YUL.
And let’s not forget the iconic retail destination for generations of consumers. The mall, no matter how refined the retail, used to be populated with predominantly fast-food outlets. It was only in the last decade that those food options were elevated to meet consumer preferences and significantly increase dwell times.
That evolution continues. Malls, along with open-air centers and urban shopping environments, are increasingly offering a variety of daily needs components, entertainment venues, medical clinics, fitness centers and the like—providing experiences and choices that address our needs across all aspects of our lives.
Investors across real estate property types also need to imagine what people will do if they’re given a choice. To that end, investors are thinking more carefully about creating place, exploring how the public realm is adding to the experience.
It doesn’t matter if we’re going to work at an office, lab, advanced manufacturing facility or construction site; heading to school or the airport; or gathering essentials or eating—we care about the experience we are having, whether consciously or not.
It’s all about experience- and people-centered thinking, which is the real value driver of real estate.
My friend and behavioral scientist Jon Levy says, “When we look at the greatest predictors of human longevity, they aren’t being on a keto diet or meditating daily, but having close social ties (close friends and family) and social integration (being part of a community).”
Family, friends and community matter—and these connections necessitate (some) interaction with place.
This creates a huge responsibility and opportunity to think holistically about our physical environments and how those spaces connect with and enrich people’s lives.
Property investors and consumer brands need to think about the human experience in the context of physical space, across every part of our lives. People will make a choice based on a better experience—no matter what they’re doing or where they are.
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