Cityscape Experience Catalysts

Experiences in cities are shaped by the places where people live, work, and socialize. From workplaces to retail hubs, and social and entertainment venues, as well as the journeys between them, urban factors influence consumer choices and behaviors across cities and neighborhoods.

Today's cities must evolve to meet changing preferences and needs, attract mobile urban populations, and adapt to climate change and technological advances. With rapid urban growth and increased demands on cities, understanding the needs and preferences of consumers and workforces is critical in creating spaces that prioritize human experience and wellbeing, fostering thriving communities.

In May 2024, JLL conducted a Consumer Experience (CX) survey across 26 global cities to better understand people's priorities, challenges, and opportunities related to real estate and urban experiences. This is the second in a series of global insights, focusing on the role of urban factors in shaping experiences.

Human-Centric Developments: Meeting Consumer Demand

Cities and urban developments can be hubs of activity for thriving commerce and communities, but these rely on high performing urban factors and infrastructure to connect people to spaces and places. From social infrastructure to environmental quality, the urban experience and wellbeing of residents, consumers, and workforces is influenced by these factors – how important people feel they are and how well they are perceived.

JLL's Consumer Experience (CX) survey reveals that while overall satisfaction with cities is generally positive, a closer look at specific urban factors—from transport connectivity to amenity access—shows a more nuanced picture of urban experiences influencing consumer choice and behavior.

88% of people like their home city, yet 35% are likely or very likely to relocate in the next 5 years. This figure rises to 46% for Gen Z and Millennials. Of the 14 urban factors assessed globally, 11 are not meeting people’s expectations. The most important factors – ‘housing affordability’, ‘safety’, ‘environmental quality’, and ‘feeling settled’ – were also rated as the widest gap between importance and satisfaction.

While these factors vary by city in relation to the urban fabric, most of these were found to be considered highly important to people globally, specifically the social factors - 'sense of place', 'access to social services', and 'having a place to settle down for a long time', while perceptions of affordability and public transport differed across regions.

JLL's CX survey provides insights into how urban factors influence people's expectations, wellbeing, and quality of life, which in turn can be used to support developer and investor strategies that place human-centric principles of environmental and social expectations at their heart.

Social factors of urban experiences

From offices and retail hubs to leisure and community amenities, spaces and places across cities are vital for social cohesion and connection. Despite being central to the World Health’s Organization (WHO) definition of health, social health is often overlooked in the built environment, including social connection, place identity or culture, feeling secure & settled in a place, applicable from neighborhood to workplace.

Reflected in responses to JLL’s CX survey, the importance of these social urban factors was most strongly seen in relation to perceived ‘Quality of Life’ scores. When the 14 urban factors were assessed, the strongest relationship between perceived good QoL and satisfaction with urban factors, were these social factors – ‘feeling safe and secure’, ‘sense of belonging’, ‘feeling able to settle down in a place’, and ‘access to amenities’.

80% agreeing that strong sense of place in their city is important, and slightly higher among working population (84% agreeing) compared to students or those retired, recognizing the growing focus on social connection for workforces globally (JLL Research, FoW 2024).

Social isolation and low social cohesion are increasing concerns for both city authorities and employers, the World Health Organization has highlighted a global epidemic of loneliness, and research showing that people without strong social networks are at higher risk of illness and have longer recovery times from medical procedures. This can create pressure on social or health systems, but also has effects on illness-related absences from the workplace, employee experience and employee retention, and wider implications on travel and leisure. 

This underscores the importance of creating developments that foster social connection. Yet with only 66% of people surveyed who feel strongly connected to their local community, there's a clear opportunity for developers to address this gap across all development types.

The challenges lie in balancing and creating variety of spaces that support different preferences and needs. When asked about ideal attributes of a place, 80% want their home city or neighborhood to have a unique sense of place, but the way people connect to place can vary, with 56% of people preferring their cities to be peaceful, while 44% prefer hustle and bustle.

Integrating social spaces and infrastructure within buildings and developments can be part of an effective inclusion or social strategies, for either a workplace or a wider community. JLL’s CX survey shows that social spaces are in high demand by consumers, with green spaces and coffee shops being the most visited amenities globally.

Reflecting the growth of coffee shops and café culture globally, coffee shops were reported as popular gathering places, with 33% of consumers visiting weekly and an additional 31% visiting monthly. In addition to commercial opportunities, many developments and asset owners are now also integrating community spaces or community cafés in developments as part of community and social value strategies (FOW 2024). These types of social hubs can provide vital spaces for diverse groups to gather, build community, and strengthen feeling of belonging within an area. While the long-term management and financing of social hubs can be challenging, innovative business models with social enterprises that incorporate training or local employment are finding success.

Green spaces in urban developments are increasingly recognized as important amenities for physical and mental health and provide additional benefits as social or community space. JLL’s research found that consumers agree, with 88% of people prioritizing ‘access to green spaces’ choosing where to live, with 88% of it, and reporting green spaces as the most visited of all urban amenities, especially Asian and European cities, where 35% of respondents use them weekly, and an additional 35-40% use them monthly.

While green spaces in development planning often consider sustainability benefits such as reduced runoff or temperature reduction in areas of high urban heat, research also shows they are important for social health and that regular access to green spaces can reduce stress and improve social connections within communities. These benefits can also be integrated into workplace design, with greenery or nature views in offices supporting healthy workplaces (IWBI 2024).

Consumer motivations in sustainable development

As occupier demand for green workspaces is growing (JLL research 2024), and consumer preference for environmentally sustainable places is influencing global shifts towards more human-centric developments. Understanding people's preferences and expectations for buildings is becoming increasingly important in talent attraction strategies, with many organizations now including sustainability targets in their location selection criteria.

Environmental quality (e.g., air quality or clean streets) was rated as a top priority for 92% of consumers, followed closely by access to green spaces at 88%. However, expectations can vary across regions and demographics, influencing motivation and consumer choices. For example, there are regional variations in attitudes towards public transport and increasingly diverse views on motivations for environmentally friendly consumer choices. Understanding what’s important to people and consumer behavior patterns can be used engage communities with broader sustainable strategies. For instance, policies focused on improving air quality and green spaces can often resonate as issues that people identify to personally, and can be used to support community engagement on more detailed city-wide sustainability initiatives.

While 61% of consumers reported always choosing the most environmentally friendly option, this preference is stronger among younger generations, with 69% of Gen Z and 71% of Millennials prioritizing eco-friendly choices.

The importance of public transport varies across cities, with greater significance and reported use in Asia and Europe. In Asia, public transport is more closely related to perceived quality of life than in other regions. In contrast, the United States shows significantly different transport behavior, with greater reliance on personal cars.

Sustainable transport is increasingly part of occupier location strategy decisions, and insights into consumer preferences can support localized decision-making. Analyzing two consumer profiles – those willing to commute more than 30 minutes for better work and leisure options (65% high commute threshold) and those who are not (35% low commute threshold) – can provide insights for employee engagement strategies and inform investment strategies for location choice.

While cheaper and faster transport motivates both groups, those with a high threshold for commuting have broader motivations for public transport use. For example, 26% of this group would like to see cleaner stations, and 20% want greener stations, compared to 17% and 10% respectively of those with a low commute threshold.

Environmental motivations also influence consumer and employee choices. Those with high environmental motivation (61% who always choose sustainable options) prioritize cost, reliability, and environmental impact when considering public transport. For those with lower environmental motivation (31%), cost and speed of journey are the main factors.

Developers and occupiers should consider these factors when choosing locations and designing spaces, particularly in relation to commute distances and environmental consciousness. At a policy level.

What does this mean for the future of real estate?

Understanding motivations and expectations of consumers is critical to inform future developments, as consumers face greater choice in place and activities are greater than ever for consumers, workers, and visitors in cities. Developments and workplaces which center the human experience and social connection in placemaking strategies will find opportunities to drive ROI in terms of footfall, consumer satisfaction and spend, and future-proof investments.

And as companies continue to focus on how their real estate can influence broader sustainability and inclusive designs, holistic approaches considering community engagement and social impact are becoming more important in sustainability strategies. Developments that can work meaningfully with local communities can create social value in their assets. Understanding local priorities and people experience can inform strategies that enhance local connection and identity, an important part of building a feeling of belonging, security, and social connection through design.

Central to these approaches is to understand the needs and preferences of people, with growing emphasis in many cities on the role of data in understanding people needs. From data-driven planning to science-led design, consumer data and insights can be used to shape place-making, location strategies and workplace design. By taking a data-driven approach to human-centric developments, the real estate industry now has an opportunity to position itself at the forefront of transformative, sustainable developments.