User experience (UX) design is a well established field. A UX designer’s job is to make a product or service usable, enjoyable, and accessible. Most of us are familiar with this idea from the apps and websites we use every day. We’ve all been to websites that are
Sounds about right…UX is a good analogy but it’s fairly new in the grand scheme of things. Historically, the user experience portion of design was covered by graphic and/or product designers. I’ve heard of behavioral designers and urban planners being brought on by architectural firms so maybe “resident experience design” is something we’ll see soon as a branch from architect?
I'm smelling what you're stepping in here, but doesn't the architect (the designer of human spaces) fill this role? In theory, at least. I don't know if it's entirely fair to say "absolutely no thought is put into how its design affects the people who live in it".
I agree that the systems-level connections (your transit example) and the financial aspects of Resident Experience Design may not be _explicitly_ included in the job requirements of an architect, and I understand the logic of the subsequent syllogisms in this article... so my (uneducated & unexperienced) suggestion/idea would be to roll Resident Experience Design into what architecture currently encompasses. Because that's where the pencil starts hitting the paper in terms of what gets built, right?
Spot on. I've spent the past 5 years working on Resident Experience platforms for multifamily communities and this was very evident. For one beyond guaranteeing collections, the Resident experience is typically an afterthought.
Even when developers seemed like they were trying - they mostly just focused on providing amenities and not thinking through how residents would interact with those amenities or with the surrounding community.
This is more evident in developing nations where there are typically smaller budgets and more surrounding community headwinds to deal with.
As someone who has worked with urban planners, urban designers, architects, landscape architects etc in a North American context I can safely tell you that nobody is filling these shoes that Joel is writing about. The closest I’ve seen of this being spoken about was through my urban design training in the Netherlands which I loved and wanted to share, but trust me, nobody was interested in what I had to say on UX design of our urban space in the North American context. It’s just completely ignored, like the culture itself has no conceptual framework to attach it to so it’s like shouting into a void. Sadly, this leads to the uncoordinated soup that is our built environments. Kudos to Joel for bringing this up, I’ve long given up the fight for this but will absolutely cheer him in as he enters the arena 👏👏👏
One more thought: Developers can only affect the aspect of resident experience within the development itself. In most cases you are talking about a single building, or a single city block in which you can design in a way to maximize resident experience.
There is not a whole lot that a developer can do about the parts of resident experience that come from the development's location within a city. As an absurd example: My experience of a 60-unit beautiful mixed use apartment building will be much worse if it is located in the middle of a farm instead of a city with good transit options and parks nearby. Resident experience is also the job of the city and community in which the development resides.
In theory, resident experience is the role of the urban designer. At worst, the urban designer, if listened to, will create spaces that feel great to be in (think of proper street widths and building heights that feel like an urban room, street furniture like trees and seating that are appealing to the eye). At best, the urban designer will do all those things, AND have those be based in economic reality. You can have a grand vision for a main street that is active with lots of restaurants and stores, but if no businesses ever take up those store fronts than your are just left with a pretty street and no people.
I take your point, however, and agree with you - that prioritization of urban design / resident experience is lacking. It is often one of the first things that is "value - engineered" out of a design. Developers are more likely to try to save money and just maximize square footage. I agree that with more choice now, developers will hopefully listen more to the urban designers, even if it costs more up front, as they start to see that more folks will want to live in great spaces.
Sounds about right…UX is a good analogy but it’s fairly new in the grand scheme of things. Historically, the user experience portion of design was covered by graphic and/or product designers. I’ve heard of behavioral designers and urban planners being brought on by architectural firms so maybe “resident experience design” is something we’ll see soon as a branch from architect?
I'm smelling what you're stepping in here, but doesn't the architect (the designer of human spaces) fill this role? In theory, at least. I don't know if it's entirely fair to say "absolutely no thought is put into how its design affects the people who live in it".
I agree that the systems-level connections (your transit example) and the financial aspects of Resident Experience Design may not be _explicitly_ included in the job requirements of an architect, and I understand the logic of the subsequent syllogisms in this article... so my (uneducated & unexperienced) suggestion/idea would be to roll Resident Experience Design into what architecture currently encompasses. Because that's where the pencil starts hitting the paper in terms of what gets built, right?
Spot on. I've spent the past 5 years working on Resident Experience platforms for multifamily communities and this was very evident. For one beyond guaranteeing collections, the Resident experience is typically an afterthought.
Even when developers seemed like they were trying - they mostly just focused on providing amenities and not thinking through how residents would interact with those amenities or with the surrounding community.
This is more evident in developing nations where there are typically smaller budgets and more surrounding community headwinds to deal with.
As someone who has worked with urban planners, urban designers, architects, landscape architects etc in a North American context I can safely tell you that nobody is filling these shoes that Joel is writing about. The closest I’ve seen of this being spoken about was through my urban design training in the Netherlands which I loved and wanted to share, but trust me, nobody was interested in what I had to say on UX design of our urban space in the North American context. It’s just completely ignored, like the culture itself has no conceptual framework to attach it to so it’s like shouting into a void. Sadly, this leads to the uncoordinated soup that is our built environments. Kudos to Joel for bringing this up, I’ve long given up the fight for this but will absolutely cheer him in as he enters the arena 👏👏👏
One more thought: Developers can only affect the aspect of resident experience within the development itself. In most cases you are talking about a single building, or a single city block in which you can design in a way to maximize resident experience.
There is not a whole lot that a developer can do about the parts of resident experience that come from the development's location within a city. As an absurd example: My experience of a 60-unit beautiful mixed use apartment building will be much worse if it is located in the middle of a farm instead of a city with good transit options and parks nearby. Resident experience is also the job of the city and community in which the development resides.
In theory, resident experience is the role of the urban designer. At worst, the urban designer, if listened to, will create spaces that feel great to be in (think of proper street widths and building heights that feel like an urban room, street furniture like trees and seating that are appealing to the eye). At best, the urban designer will do all those things, AND have those be based in economic reality. You can have a grand vision for a main street that is active with lots of restaurants and stores, but if no businesses ever take up those store fronts than your are just left with a pretty street and no people.
I take your point, however, and agree with you - that prioritization of urban design / resident experience is lacking. It is often one of the first things that is "value - engineered" out of a design. Developers are more likely to try to save money and just maximize square footage. I agree that with more choice now, developers will hopefully listen more to the urban designers, even if it costs more up front, as they start to see that more folks will want to live in great spaces.