Urban Land Magazine
By: Joseph G. Allen and John D. Macomber
June 8th, 2020

The world, the real estate industry, and individuals continue to be rocked by the direct impact and resulting shock waves from the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic’s costs to public health and economic activity are colossal. We are worried about our families and communities, we fret about our investments, and we want to know about the near- and long-term prospects for returning to work and repopulating buildings.

Evidence exists that buildings—as well as ships, airports, subways, and marketplaces—are central to controlling the spread of communicable diseases. This heightened awareness portends a future in which health-related issues will outweigh energy savings or aesthetic “feels like a nice space” considerations when buildings are being evaluated. This pandemic and the prospect of future contagions are a permanent tipping point in the rise in prominence of healthy buildings.

How will we know what qualifies as an objectively healthy building? How will we analyze investing in resilience for public health with the same rigor we apply to investing in resilience against… read the full article here.