A world of different models for living and housing

More opportunities for personal fulfilment and new ways of living

Society revolves increasingly around the individual – opening up a new world of models for living. This offers up new opportunities for shaping how we work and live together – but brings with it increasing complexity. 

With the dissolution of classic family and role models, the flexibilisation of work and the growing focus on individual needs, the variety of options is also growing. There are new opportunities for our personal and professional lives: these include the founding of start-ups by young people and retirees alike, flexible relationships and patchwork families and people opting to work as digital nomads. The growing number of choices and options also makes things more complex. There are more choices to be made and demand for flexibility to adapt to new circumstances is on the rise. 

It will become more important in the future to be able to adapt to new opportunities and changing circumstances as a result. This requires open minds as well as infrastructure and financing models that adapt to the varied and changing demands of life. The traditional path of school, work, starting a family and heading for retirement will no longer be fit for the future. 

However, focusing on one’s own specific needs reduces the willingness to compromise and poses the risk of loneliness and disconnection between communities. Accordingly, contact between people with different ideas and of generations becomes more important. First of all, the exchange of experience, knowledge and skills leads to new ideas. Secondly, dialogue with others strengthens trust and solidarity. In everyday life, people can also offer each other informal mutual support with day-to-day tasks, childcare and other care work. This can be done through digital time banks, where support services are booked and exchanged on account, but also through traditional concepts of intergenerational housing developments, cluster housing and multi-generational housing. 

Theories on the future of housing in view of different models for living

With various and shifting configurations of life, family and career models, requirements for modular living arrangements that adapt to one’s circumstances are growing.

More space for growing families, separable apartments for people who end their relationship or shared living arrangement, returnable rooms that are no longer needed once the children have moved out, or flexible, local office space for working from home. The need for flexible or modular housing concepts is likely to grow in the years to come. As obvious as this desire is, it is just as demanding in terms of construction, as fixed infrastructure such as walls cannot be installed or removed so easily. The flexible rental of additional rooms or spaces and the option to stop renting them is nevertheless an obvious solution for the future. This opens up opportunities for innovative solution providers. 

In order to make informal support easier in everyday life, the importance of intergenerational homes and housing developments is growing.

Pilot projects have been in place for several years. However, the potential to support each other, strengthening not only the quality of life of individuals but also the cohesion of the population as a whole, is still rarely realised. In the future, real estate can become a key aspect of a population engaged in solidarity, which needs to create direct points of connection and interaction in view of different values and living and career models in order to strengthen trust and cohesion. 

A growing market segment for personalisation and flexible design of indoor and outdoor spaces is emerging to help tailor living space for individual needs.

For instance, with folding beds or kitchens that can be transformed into sofa areas. In addition to pre-designed, customisable furniture or room dividers, ‘hackable rooms’ are growing in significance. These are places where residents can simply transform furniture, interior furnishings or outdoor spaces themselves and adapt them to their current needs. This ‘do it yourself’ approach builds up artisan skills and creates a personal connection to living spaces through our own work that promotes personal fulfilment and sustainability. 

Together with the think tank W.I.R.E., Livit is venturing to take a look at the world of tomorrow to mark its 60th anniversary. The project examines six long-term developments in terms of their consequences for our daily lives and the spaces where we live and work. Follow us on LinkedIn to make sure you don’t miss a post.