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An installation promoting multi-species urban neighbourhoods

Multispecies Neighbourhoods by Atelier Dalziel for Oslo Architecture Triennale, Norway

Norway – Part of the Oslo Architecture Triennale (from 22 September 2022), Multispecies Neighbourhoods is an installation showing a community living in symbiosis with nature.

Designed by Atelier Dalziel, the prototype is made of large straw and clay spherical structures conceptualising a food forest. Visitors can explore the installation and peek at the 30 edible plants growing inside the spheres such as blueberries, sea buckthorn and thyme.

The project aims to show how urban neighbourhoods can bolster biodiversity by using urban architecture and agriculture to interlink humans with nature. ‘We can create human landscapes which become hugely beneficial to other species as well. It's gaining momentum as a discussion point for real viable alternatives to industrial agriculture,’ says Atelier Dalziel founder Matthew Dalziel.

Interspecies architecture is increasingly being used to reposition humans in the natural habitat and to make several species cohabit and thrive. With Multispecies Neighbourhoods, Atelier Dalziel explores how this can be achieved in an urban environment and how it can strengthen community ties.

Strategic opportunity

Consumers are keen to reconnect with nature when given the chance so create opportunities for people to pause, reflect on and explore their relationship with nature

Co-living for single parents becomes a reality in France

Commune, France

Orléans – With acceptance of new family structures becoming more widespread, French company Commune is launching co-living spaces for single-parent families.

With two buildings under renovation, the first of Commune’s properties will open in September 2023 near Paris and will house 20–25 families. Each single parent with one or two children can rent a fully furnished private apartment with bedrooms, bathroom and kitchenette. They will also have access to a shared kitchen and dining area as well as a toy-filled playroom, a garden and terrace – plus a shared laundry. Tutoring and babysitting services are also on offer, as well as school transport, legal advice and tv streaming services.

Commune’s plans are ambitious: it raised £1.3m ($1.5 m, €1.5m) in seed funding in 2022 and aims to open 500 properties within a decade, targeting those earning £30–48k ($34–53.5, €35k–55k) annually with monthly rents starting at £1,033 ($1,160, €1,190).

According to Commune co-founders Tara Heuzé-Sarmini and Ruben Petry, single parents are more and more numerous, with one in four families being single-parent in France in 2021, and half of married couples divorcing, according to Eurostat. Explore more about future living scenarios in our Home & Family series, as well as our macrotrend, Neo-collectivism.

Strategic opportunity

It is time to rethink how products and services can be redesigned for solo-lifers and a variety of family structures. Address growing isolation by focusing on community, shared experience and support

Dove tracks the impact of beauty standards on health

US – Commissioned by Dove, The Real Cost of Beauty Ideals report reveals the societal and economic impacts of harmful beauty standards.

Unattainable and ever-changing beauty standards are fuelling a public health crisis, with women and young girls the most affected demographic, according to Dove's latest report. Its research quantified the cost of beauty standards – a metric never used before. The results are alarming. In the US, the epidemic of body dissatisfaction incurs financial and wellbeing costs of £272bn ($305bn, €313bn) per year, and appearance-based discrimination a whopping £447bn ($501bn, €514bn) each year.

Alessandro Manfredi, chief marketing officer at Dove, says: ‘Beauty standards are not superficial. They have a human and financial cost that we must address, so that a positive relationship with beauty can be accessible to all.’

This comprehensive assessment of the pervasive and damaging impacts of beauty standards is designed to encourage systemic change against racist and gendered beauty ideals, pushing forward the goals in our Synchronised care report.

It’s On Us campaign by Dove, South Africa

Strategic opportunity

With toxic body trends such as ‘thin is in’ coming back, those initiatives denouncing diet and alienating body cultures, and instead supporting communities’ wellbeing, are particularly timely

Stat: Click-and-collect growth demands retailers adapt

The Klarna Future Shopping Lab, Sweden

UK – Click-and-collect services will be worth £42.4bn ($47.5bn, €48.7bn) in the UK this year, accounting for 8.4% of the retail sector’s yearly income, according to a report by Barclays Corporate Banking.

Along with rising online sales, click-and-collect grew sharply during the pandemic and this has continued post-Covid. As consumers return to physical stores, retailers are expected to adapt to increasing demand for a hybrid shopping experience that combines online and physical stores, despite the cost of living crisis, which is expected to reduce retail spending in the UK by up to 30% by the end of the year.

Click-and-collect is expected to underpin 184,000 jobs across the industry, with 41% of physical stores now used as locations for the service. If retailers are to reap the benefits of this changing economic landscape, they will need a flexible structure that can adapt to ever-changing environments.

Strategic opportunity

Adopt a dynamic business model that incorporates both online and in-store offers to ensure you can meet the challenges of the fast-changing retail landscape