The same pandemic spotlight that has illuminated the shortcomings of our cities' public areas, has also revealed the limitations of the status quo in our homes and indoor spaces. While mayors and city councils have rapidly modified public spaces, based on evidence and programs developed by urbanists and public policy experts, most of the changes that we have seen implemented in indoor spaces have been executed as hastily-arranged, temporary solutions, such as stickers on the floor to encourage social distancing, plexiglass partitions and improvised workspaces at home. But these changes do not provide solutions to long-term problems, such as the need for added personal space to accommodate the drastic increase in professionals working from home.

Long before the pandemic, multifamily developers throughout US cities were faced with a challenging environment; characterized by a scarcity of vacant land and compounded by restrictions on density and high construction costs. For a sector in which the yield on investments has been getting tighter – multifamily cap rates have fallen from about 6% to 5.5% throughout the past four years, according to Real Capital Analytics – it is not financially feasible to simply build larger spaces in order to meet the increased demand for personal space.

Utilizing smart space solutions to create adaptable and flexible living spaces will serve as a necessary ingredient in preparing our cities for what the next half century will bring. By harnessing new technologies that achieve these goals, we can make cities more accessible, inclusive, affordable and vibrant—in short, more livable.

Scalable Solutions

Multi-functionality within a space is a longstanding concept that has gained additional traction in recent years. Though murphy beds and moveable air walls have been around for decades, the popularity of "tiny houses" on social media alone points to a desire people have for living large in a small space.

However, some major issues have prevented these alternative solutions from becoming more widespread. For one, they are often not scalable solutions. Architects may design a beautiful tiny home with custom, creative storage solutions that are difficult to replicate in different environments. Separately, murphy beds and airwalls have met resistance because they require too much daily effort; the cognitive load required to transform the space several times a day leads most people to leave their bed out at all times and accept the limitations.

In contrast, the reason cities have been able to quickly make the radical changes like we've seen in Paris, Oakland or Seattle is precisely because it avoids these two complications. The implemented changes are scalable solutions that can be quickly deployed without major construction and can be easily utilized and enjoyed by residents.

To rapidly meet the new demands that renters are placing on living spaces, similar scalable and easily deployable solutions are required. Emerging innovations in smart technology for the home are meeting exactly these challenges by automating the choreography of spaces so that we're not required to lift a finger. These solutions are beginning to be produced at scale and deployed quickly and efficiently within multifamily buildings across the country. Most importantly, data prominently shows that these new smart space solutions deliver a significantly improved user experience. As the category of smart spaces — where technology enables the transformation of interior space — continues to develop, new ideas and products must be designed to optimize scalability, efficient deployment and convenience if they are to meet the needs of diverse environments and dynamic lifestyles.

Moments of crisis — such as the one the world finds itself in today — can be catalysts for change. This disruption in our lives, as challenging as it has been and continues to be, provides the opportunity to accelerate the adoption of disruptive solutions that will prepare our cities for 2030 and beyond, both outdoors and indoors.

Hasier Larrea serves as the founder and CEO of the smart space company, Ori Inc. Larrea founded the company in 2015, with the mission to provide multi-functional, robotic-powered interior solutions to developers, builders, property managers, designers and architects of multifamily spaces, in effort to optimize the existing square footage of built environments.