Consumer demand for experiences to shape the future of urban spaces

CHICAGO, Sept. 17, 2024 – As the rapid growth of cities and the urban middle class gives rise to a new “experience economy,” JLL’s (NYSE: JLL) 2024 Global Consumer Experience Survey finds consumers are increasingly seeking higher-quality experiences from the built environment – ones that combine human-centric design with spaces that foster a strong sense of community, belonging and connection. The global survey captures data from over 3,200 global respondents to understand how stakeholders involved in creating, owning and managing corporate real estate can adapt to shifting consumer expectations to unlock greater value in their portfolios.

Findings from JLL’s survey are unveiled through a series of articles that explore the opportunities to create stand-out consumer experiences in buildings, venues and the spaces in between. The first article, launched today, explores the top five priorities consumers are now seeking in urban living environments, including: creating “destination” spaces; integrating experience across real estate developments; connecting the physical and digital; focusing on human-centric design; and understanding the value drivers of shared experiences.

“It’s people we ultimately build places for, and understanding what they need first is imperative,” said Lee Daniels, JLL Global Growth and Innovation Lead, Work Dynamics. “By developing comprehensive experience strategies that encompass multiple dimensions, we recognize that it is people who transform places and spaces, while experiences and interactions ultimately shape people.”

With most consumers willing to pay more for higher quality experiences, tapping into this need for connection and community can play a differentiating role in the future success of real estate developments.

Purpose of real estate shifts as consumers increasingly seek higher value, in-person experiences

The experience economy will play a key differentiating role in the evolution of urban developments as consumers demand greater value and quality from their in-person experiences. The majority of respondents across generations and regions consider experience important in choosing where and how they spend leisure time and their related purchasing, from a desire to travel to new places, wanting unique urban experiences, and prioritizing in-person activities. Respondents also share they are willing to pay a premium for this quality, especially among Millennials (80%).

JLL Research, 2024

At a time when increased wealth, digitization and technology are driving demand for more value from offline experiences, urban environments will be forced to adapt. In fact, over three quarters (76%) of people agree that cities need to offer new experiences to stay relevant. This is especially true of younger generations, with 84% of Millennials and Gen Z agreeing.

JLL Research, 2024

Social connection and community needs drives motivation for consumer experiences

As consumer experience becomes an increasingly important consideration for new developments and asset repositioning, understanding what people are seeking from these experiences will be critical in unlocking greater value in spaces. In addition to fundamentals like safety and affordability, respondents across regions and generations say fostering a strong sense of community and belonging are key drivers in choosing an experience. This comes at a time when isolation and loneliness are reported as the main threats to quality of life in cities, exacerbated in younger generations by a reliance on digital connections rather than face-to-face interaction and in older people due to lack of mobility.

Whether it be through dining out, sporting events, concerts, movie or other social activities, consumers are hungry for more opportunities to connect with others in meaningful ways.

“Forward-looking new development projects should consider how to enable greater social connectivity within individual buildings and throughout multi-building development campus locations,” said Peter Miscovich, JLL Global Future of Work Lead, Work Dynamics. “For example, organizations can develop an integrated employee experience based upon leading consumer experience practices by treating their employees in the same manner as they would treat high-value customers.”

Connecting the digital and physical to enhance consumer experiences

In a growing digitized world, integrating digital solutions to in-person experiences offers opportunities to enhance places and spaces as destinations of choice.

While 75% of consumers report feeling satisfied with online shopping experiences, people still express a preference for being in-store – where the majority of consumers (64%) say they prefer shopping in-person versus online. Developers and investors can capitalize on these desires, filling the gap with experiential retail and online/offline services, such as integrating digital strategies to allow a digital overlay for a more personal in-person experience, using different booking apps, digital enhancements and even augmented reality technology.

“Through this research we have seen how expectations of the built environment continue to evolve, how they differ across generations, and just how important the built environment is in driving our experiences and quality of life,” said Ruth Hynes, JLL EMEA Work Dynamics Research and Strategy Director. “Developers, investors and occupiers are seeing increased demand for ‘destination’ places and spaces, as consumers expect increased choice and quality in the places where they live, work and visit. And this is where we are seeing increased demand for research and data in planning and development, to unlock insights into consumer expectations across real estate. In increasingly complex environments, research and data-driven strategies for human-centric developments are more important than ever.”

The human desire for connection has always been fundamental, but JLL’s survey unveils a greater opportunity to capitalize on this through the built environment with experience-led strategies. Developers and investors should recognize this pronounced need for connection, tapping into social capital and the intangible elements of a sense of community to create ‘destination’ future spaces.

JLL Work Dynamics enables the world’s greatest organizations to do their best work. We manage facilities, projects and portfolios to shape a better world of work. With more than 60,000 local and global specialists, the team enables clients to enhance the performance of their portfolios and people to see what’s possible in a more sustainable and inclusive built environment. Through technology enabled solutions, Work Dynamics creates safe and inspiring spaces around the world for people to collaborate, innovate and drive meaningful change anywhere that work is performed. Work Dynamics manages over 2 billion square feet of real estate and has averted more than 112,700 metric tons of CO2e by advising clients on renewable energy projects. For more information, visit JLL’s Occupier Services page.

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