Here’s How the Real Estate Market Is *Finally* Catching on to the Wellness Boom
In a report titled "Build Well to Live Well: Wellness Lifestyle Real Estate and Communities," Global Wellness Institute senior researcher Katherine Johnston said, "We’re at the beginning of a new movement in home and community design that tackles our uniquely modern problems: sedentary lives, unhealthy diets, stress, social isolation and loneliness, pollution, nature-deprivation." To solve this problem, real-estate developers are creating and expanding "wellness homes and communities," which the report defines as structures that aim to support the holistic health of its residents.
Real-estate developers are creating and expanding "wellness homes and communities," which include structures that aim to support the holistic health of its residents.
Unlike most aspects of the wellness boom, these communities are relatively slow to catch on (unlike the matcha tea and HIIT studios everywhere) but are, in fact, growing: In the last decade, the number of wellness homes and/or communities has risen from just a dozen or so to more than 600 currently being built or in development.
In light of this, the GWI has recommendations for these homes and communities that include setting up more active design features like sidewalks, porches, stairways, and also the strategic placement of parking and public space. The intended setups also include creating activities that bring people together in what Johnston refers to as "soft infrastructure," to help foster the social aspect inherent to wellness.
While there isn't an exact blueprint to follow in creating these homes and communities, Johnston says this way of life generally includes "downsizing, living small, [and] being more sustainable, and environmentally conscious."
The trend is just taking off, so who knows? You might soon be able to live in a place where your neighbors lead the same healthy, leggings-loving, meditation-practicing lifestyle you do.
No matter where you live, you can still make your life easier by using a Task Rabbit for your Ikea purchase or planning out your living space with a Sims-like app.
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