Realdania has earmarked DKK 50 million to explore, together with researchers and innovation experts, how COVID-19 has reshaped behaviour and quality of life in the built environment – and how these insights can inform more resilient solutions for the future.
The pandemic exposed fundamental challenges in our homes, workplaces and public spaces. As daily life shifted, many environments proved unable to accommodate new and changing needs. This highlighted a key question: how can the built environment better support everyday life – not only in times of crisis, but in a future defined by uncertainty and change?
RESPOND addresses this question by combining research and real-world solutions. The initiative brings together knowledge from the pandemic and the years since, with the aim of strengthening resilience and improving quality of life across the built environment.
The initiative runs in two parallel tracks:
Track 1: Knowledge track
Researchers from BUILD at Aalborg University analyse how people in Denmark have used homes, workplaces and public spaces before, during and after the pandemic. The findings point to lasting changes in everyday life – including the rise of remote working and shifting housing preferences – and raise important questions about future planning ideals, such as the compact city.
Track 2: Solutions track
The pandemic sparked rapid innovation across both the private sector and civil society. The solutions track builds on this momentum by identifying, developing and scaling solutions that can better equip the built environment to handle future challenges and support quality of life.