Houses, not apartments:
High-rise buildings were designed to organize as many people as possible in one place. Health and hygiene were not a consideration. In times of pandemic, it is necessary to reduce contact with everything that is used in multi-story buildings: elevators, elevator buttons, door handles, surfaces and, above all, neighbors.
Bunkers better than open-plan:
Among survivalists – those constantly training to survive a coming apocalypse –there was already a trend for fortified buildings. But now we can expect that trend to become more widespread.
Self-sufficient power and water:
The buildings of the future will be proud and independent, with their own water supply and heating. Geothermal wells are gaining popularity already. In addition to water, they can partially provide a home with heating. Alternative power will become a reality. The goal will be independence from the outside world, minimizing risks in the case of a full shutdown.
Filtration and neutralization:
Water and air filtration systems tend to be seen as an unnecessary addition, easily abandoned in favor of a designer table. After the pandemic, the trend will change, as people worry about what might happen if a virus gets into the water supply. To make sure, people will be willing to pay for the excavation, surveys and filtration systems needed to install a well.
Home as the new office:
During quarantine, most are forced to work from home. There will be people who will, on the first day after the quarantine, race to meet colleagues and drink that office coffee. But there will be those who will not want to return to the office.
Urban farming goes global:
It used to be trendy to start small gardens near homes or on balconies, but now it will be a boom. As our grandparents told us, gardening is calming. It has been proven that physical interaction with living plants is good for our mental health.
Rejection of mass industry:
People around the world have been struck by photos revealing a new sky over China. After two months of forced abandonment of mass production, they could finally breathe fresh air. Wash your hands, stay at home and let’s create a new worthy life that the planet will no longer want to lose.
The misperceptions of the majority
This is what people wanted to happen – but how did they think things actually would end up? In both countries, participants felt that a return to normal was more likely than moving towards a progressive future. They also felt it was more likely that government would retain its power than return it to the people.
In other words, people thought they were unlikely to get the future they wanted. People want a progressive future, but fear that they’ll get a return to normal with power vested in the government.
We also asked people to tell us what they thought others wanted. It turned out our participants thought that others wanted a return to normal much more than they actually did. This was observed in both the US and UK in both 2020 and 2021, though to varying extents.
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