How and where we'll live - housing and design

As we mark the anniversary of the beginning of the COVID pandemic, it is clear that the last twelve months have had a huge impact on the world. Almost every aspect of our lives has been changed by the coronavirus pandemic.

As vaccine programmes around the world are beginning to show, there is light at the end of the tunnel – but what does our post-COVID world look like? 

'Shaping our post-COVID world’ is a series of reports from Mace that explores the changes caused by the pandemic to the built environment, construction and infrastructure sectors. In our latest report we explore how the pandemic has transformed the most basic element of our lives – our homes. 

The pandemic has placed the domestic world at the forefront of our lives. Lockdown restrictions across the world have meant that many people have spent more time in our homes than ever before. That has in turn meant a renewed focus on the importance of safe and secure houses and the nature of the neighbourhoods we live in. 

Our new report explores the trends that are driving changes to how and where we live – and how the global built environment sector should respond. As in so many areas, the pandemic has not so much created new problems for the global housing sector – but thrown those that already exist into sharp relief. So how do we respond? How do we change housing delivery to reflect those challenges? Can we build communities that provide safe and secure housing that people want?

The solutions are multifaceted and require a multiagency approach, including input from central and local government, housing associations, private housebuilders and a whole host of other community and public sector bodies. 

To find out more, download our latest paper.