2 minute readIn a time when the economy is squishy at best, many (not all!) builders and developers are pivoting from the order taking of the frothy past two years, cutting costs, and focusing on back to basics thinking. But when it comes to wellness, what constitutes “basic” today, and what role do those designing and creating the built environment play in it?
An outdated definition of health – the “absence of disease” has been replaced by the World Health Organization’s “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
The Data, Please!
A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, calculates the US spends 17.8% of our GDP on healthcare. That’s squarely in line with housing’s contribution to our GDP, at Just like in our agriculture experience, we believe we have to take care of the entire system. It’s not one thing that contributes to wellness, it’s the thousand small decisions that matter. We’re making walking safer with narrower streets, slowing traffic, and activating linear parks where there are no cars. To be a truly walkable community, you have to have somewhere to walk. We’ve created points of interest for the pedestrian experience, every 150 feet, and a community plan and home types that will truly be for all ages and income levels,” Garrett says. Is it too expensive to “do” wellness? Zeal for Living’s Dobbie answers it this way. It doesn’t need to cost extra. It just needs to be thought about in the planning stage.” This might result in leaving things off the list of expected amenities and freeing up resources to create healthier places with a lighter, more nimble touch. Just like so many areas of this complex business, barriers will come down. More and more examples of wellness communities are proving wellness real estate is good real estate – it increases returns for developers, homebuilders and investors, and improves the well-being of all.How might we?
