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More than ever, personal well-being is a guiding force in consumers’ daily lives. No longer viewed within a one-dimensional silo, consumers have come to understand and recognize the all-encompassing importance that the design of physical environments and systems have on their individual health and wellness. This increasingly holistic prioritization of a well-balanced environment is leading to drastic shifts in expectations around the physical spaces consumers occupy, and the twinned importance of cleanliness and health. As shoppers continue to embrace and learn more about their own physical health and safety, the environments and ambient stimuli they’re surrounded by and engage with have become central areas of focus. A growing appreciation for health-optimized spaces and personal wellbeing, paired with intensified focus placed on both health and safety is driving new interest in practices, devices and architecture that support safety, cleanliness and personal well-being.
Many consumers are seeking a return to nature as a way to slow down and embrace calm and quiet. Renewed focus is being paid to lighting, air quality, soundscapes and materials to create spaces that work in synergy with natural rhythms to promote greater health and happiness within often chaotic urban environments. As a result, architecture and engineering practices, as well as in-home devices, are embracing new design principles that highlight balance and regeneration. Additionally, new technologies are being developed and deployed in a variety of ways to ensure the cleanliness and safety of public and private spaces. Vertical gardens and other growing solutions are extending seasonality and further shrinking the distance that food must travel to get to a plate, as well as increasing the sustainability impact individual’s can have at home. The ability for individuals to grow their own produce and herbs also opens up opportunities for personal growth, self-sufficiency, and community building.
In this report, the PSFK Labs team dissects the ways brands and retailers can innovate the experience and design of their offerings in order to support consumers along their journey to live a well-balanced life within a healthy, productive environment. To help our members better understand the trajectories at play in this increasingly important space, PSFK has identified 4 key trends supporting new approaches to design that bring together the best of technology and the natural world to foster health, wellness, and growth. 
As architecture and engineering embraces the idea that built systems and environments have an impact on people’s physical and emotional well-being, they’re embracing new biophilic and human-centered design principles. Renewed focus is being paid to lighting, air quality, soundscapes and materials to create spaces that work in synergy with natural rhythms to promote greater health and happiness.
Ideas like local and farm-to-table remain important aspects of the food and dining experience. With improvements in agricultural technology in terms of efficiency and scale, the ability to grow fruits and vegetables in smaller environments is now a real possibility for both businesses and consumers, boosting sustainability and self-sufficiency. Vertical gardens and other growing solutions are extending seasonality and further shrinking the distance that food must travel to get to a plate, as well as increasing the sustainability impact individual’s can have at home. 
In the midst of the chaos of the built environment from concrete cityscapes to digital technologies, people are seeking a return to nature as a way to slow down and embrace the calm and quiet. Scientific studies support the health benefits – both physical and mental – of activities like forest bathing, playing in the dirt or simply hanging out alongside some house plants. Designers and architects are adopting these same principles as they create environments and solutions that bring the outdoors inside and encourage people to integrate nature more deeply into their daily lives.
By leveraging its own next-generation connected IoT devices and their rapidly evolving capabilities, LG is taking on the mission of creating the smart home of the future.
The model living space pop up concept from IKEA is designed to show visitors how to live with a full respect for nature and promote sustainable choices in the face of rising climate change.
If nature can serve as a medicine, then what’s the right dose? Tech and wellness platform NatureQuant, which recently integrated with exercise tracking service Strava, is on a mission to find out.
To help our members better understand the trajectories at play in this increasingly important space, PSFK has identified 4 key trends supporting new approaches to design that bring together the best of technology and the natural world to foster health, wellness, and growth. PSFK has identified 4 key trends that paint a picture of the ways brands and retailers can improve the experience and design of their offerings in order to support consumers along their journey to live a well-balanced life within a healthy, productive environment.
This 10-page report includes:
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