Global architecture and design firm Gensler has unveiled its 2025 Design Forecast, spotlighting five pivotal trends that will reshape urban life and real estate worldwide. The report identifies the top global design movements anticipated to impact the built environment, emphasizing human-centered, adaptable spaces and resilient urban development.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Design and Urban Life:
- Experience-Driven Lifestyle Districts: These mixed-use hubs combining hospitality, retail, sports, and residential spaces are set to be at the heart of future cities, fueling community engagement and fostering shared experiences. They highlight a demand for safe streets and reliable transit options as people seek to reconnect in community-centric spaces.
- Sustainable Design and Innovation: Sustainability becomes the central focus in design as organizations increasingly prioritize climate resilience. Buildings that incorporate green technologies like adaptive reuse, energy-efficient designs, and low-carbon materials are becoming highly sought after. This demand for sustainable solutions is driving major innovations in construction processes and materials, such as mass timber and zero-carbon cement.
- Adaptive Reuse Boom: With the market for aging office buildings and other devalued assets at deeply discounted rates, 2025 will see a boom in adaptive reuse, converting properties into residential, healthcare, sports, and even science lab spaces. The shift towards creative conversions offers an opportunity to maximize value from existing structures.
- Action on Attainable Housing: In 2025, attainable market-rate housing will be a top priority for cities globally. A combination of new financial incentives, lower interest rates, and updates to zoning laws and building codes will create fertile ground for diverse housing developments.
- The Future Workplace: The future of workspaces is already here, and it’s about enhancing the employee experience. In 2025, tenants will seek out high-quality office spaces with amenities, close transit access, and a focus on employee inspiration and satisfaction. Developers will need to focus on creating Class A buildings that deliver this value proposition.
Gensler’s 2025 Design Forecast presents a vision for adaptable, sustainable environments that prioritize people, highlighting the role of adaptive reuse, sustainable materials, and affordable housing as essential to building the cities of tomorrow. Through its expertise, Gensler is reimagining how design can help shape vibrant, flexible communities.
About Gensler
Founded in 1965, Gensler is a global architecture and design firm with 6,000 professionals serving clients in over 100 countries each year. With a mission to create a better world through design, Gensler combines creativity, research, and innovation to transform the human experience and reshape cities for the future.
