Transforming building industry and health outcomes through social data-supported design

Abstract: A glaring reality of American industrialized society is that people spend a tremendous amount of their waking life in their workplace and other interior environments. Despite the amount of time that we spend in them, many of our constructed environments that we inhabit are not designed for the people and communities that rely on them. From a health and wellness perspective, there is a growing body of research on the ways that our interior environments and lack of exposure to natural elements systematically impacts our health and strains our healthcare system. In short, the spaces in which we live and work are a major public health issue and should be considered in this way. In this paper, we lay out a vision for using the underleveraged social data-available through social media-to inform the architecture, developer and real estate industries. The goal is ultimately a public health initiative: to create spaces that are healthier, more responsive, equitable and human-centric through social data-supported design.