Workplace Design and the Future of Work

Creating workplaces that foster a sense of belonging

At Gehl, we make cities for people, and the truth of the matter is most people spend about one-third of their adult lives at work. This has led us to expand our practice, taking our expertise in designing great public spaces to our work with private enterprises. We know that the best public spaces foster belonging — the feeling of security and support when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity in a shared place. Now, we are helping companies make workplaces of belonging.

For decades, businesses have competed to attract and retain talented employees, hoping that their offices — and the workplace cultures they house — inspire feelings of pride and inclusion. Today, in our hybrid era, cultures of belonging are strained between the office and the home. And in the process, urban districts are struggling. These new working rhythms pose a serious question: How can the workplace build a sense of belonging that both improves personal well-being and supports the cities in which we live? While the conditions have changed, the fundamentals haven’t. Much like the vibrant public spaces Gehl fosters, the future of work is in sociable, accessible, and communal spaces.

Designing workplaces that foster social connections

Before the pandemic, being in the office was an everyday fact of life, and companies fought to differentiate themselves as fun, engaging places to work. Think of tech offices from the 2010s: those fabled Ping-Pong tables might seem dated now, but they reaffirmed a psychological truth — creativity, innovation, and well-being depend on small social acts to fuel a network of close coworkers and casual acquaintances. This combination of strong and weak social ties powers workplace culture, but today these ties are fraying.

In the present hybrid era, the office is no longer the default choice. The office must now become a gathering place people want to visit, not necessarily because they have to. How do we facilitate this? The answer isn’t ‘more perks.’ It’s designing workplaces that optimize the benefits of meeting face-to-face, give teams room to express their identities, and set aside space and time to develop social connections. This approach was central to our work with Stanford University, where a new campus for the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability uses principles of sociability as its ‘operating system’ upon which collaboration, learning, and working run.

Making workplaces commute-worthy: reducing time tax and enhancing employee convenience

Certain frustrations were hardwired into life in the pre-pandemic world: daily commutes, arranging childcare, and postponed chores. For those lucky enough to have the choice to work from home, it’s hard to imagine going back these days, but gains in convenience can spell a loss in belonging at work.

Companies need to find ways to reduce this ‘time tax’ to minimize everyday headaches and make workplaces more enjoyable and convenient. For starters, workplaces can become more ‘commute-worthy’ by offering services that support the lives of their employees and bring the conveniences of home — like childcare, postal service, and even dog runs — to the office.

Beyond this, companies should radically rethink their real estate model. Part of what makes an office commute-worthy is what’s around it. People want to live and work in proximity to vibrant urban cores — where daily rhythms of residents and workers flock together to keep neighborhoods lively 24/7, and where stopping by the office conveniently gets you closer to errands and diversions you seek.

Fostering community through workplace design

Work is only one part of our identity, but the workplace is crucial to how we relate to one another and the city we inhabit. Employees expect their jobs to come with a sense of purpose, both in terms of their daily tasks and more broadly in their company’s mission and values. Real estate can be a powerful manifestation of such values.

In a time when many communities are distrustful of commercial development in their neighborhoods, companies must demonstrate an earnest commitment to giving back usefully and meaningfully to local communities. And employees want this, too!

Increasingly, major companies are forgoing private, walled-off campuses in favor of porous, mixed-use districts, complete with shared parks, plazas, retail, and cultural institutions. This sharing of communal spaces fosters co-benefits: community members appreciate the dynamic amenities, and employees take pride in their company’s desire to be a good neighbor. Neither group is positioned as an interloper in the neighborhood; both belong equally.

Companies & cities: working hand in hand

As we all continue to renegotiate our relationships with work, home, and city life, now is the time to radically reimagine the future of the office. Private companies have a strong role to play: as major employers increasingly take up urban development, by designing workplaces that are more sociable, accessible, and communal, private enterprises can not only foster stronger, more resilient cultures of belonging but also imbue life back into our cities.
They can’t, however, do it alone — the public sector must also meet this challenge by rezoning commercial areas to allow mixed-use districts, enabling the conversion of offices into residences, investing in public spaces, and supporting neighborhood retail and services. The principles behind good work life and city life are intertwined, and the solutions to today’s challenges are really one and the same. From the office to the neighborhood, we all deserve places that truly foster belonging and vibrancy.

This article was originally developed for the kyu network internal blog under the title ‘Shaping Cities and the Future of Work.’