Sept. 19, 2024
People have always lived hybrid lifestyles. We're routinely blending multiple approaches, identities, or value sets in our daily activities as we seek to achieve work-life balance, forge a multicultural identity, or do any number of other things that make us human. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of a "hybrid lifestyle" took on a new meaning: participating in a mix of in-person activities and online substitutes for in-person activities.
Some of the most obvious examples of potential online substitutes for in-person activities are remote work, virtual learning, telehealth, virtual conferences, e-commerce, and online gaming. And many people may choose to participate online on one occasion and in person on another. The emergence of this type of hybrid lifestyle points to a need for planners to integrate a new set of considerations into their work. This blending of the real and digital worlds provides unique planning opportunities for resolving challenges in the built environment or when cocreating with the community in equitable ways.
Previous American Planning Association (APA) Trend Reports — published in partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy — have documented trends associated with hybrid work, retail, health care, and community engagement, as well as the digital infrastructure that makes hybrid lifestyles possible. A 2022 special report from APA and the Lincoln Institute, Digitalization and Implications for Planning, explored how the rapid adoption of digital versions of once-analog processes is affecting the communities planners serve. But how might planning change if planners were to consider spatial and virtual needs and opportunities in tandem?
How might planning change if planners were to consider spatial and virtual needs and opportunities in tandem?
Hybrid work redefining modern life
Among full-time workers who can perform their jobs from home, hybrid work arrangements are more common than fully remote positions or fully in-person positions. Hybrid participation in higher education and shopping are similarly widespread and commonplace. Many students attend a mix of online and in-person classes, and many shoppers browse in-store but buy online or buy online and pick up in-store. Telehealth has quickly gone from fringe to mainstream. And live-streamed concerts, conferences, and other events have made it possible for people who can't or don't want to attend in person to "be there" from anywhere.
For some activities, such as banking, bill paying, and socializing, mobile platforms, and applications have vastly expanded on previous opportunities to participate by telephone or through the mail. Yet demand remains for branch banks, check-cashing stores, and payment kiosks, and social media certainly hasn't eliminated house parties and in-person meetups of all kinds. Even in domains where online substitutes for in-person activities are rare or nonexistent, future advances in robotics, 3D printing, or the metaverse could open new hybrid opportunities.
While the possibilities and popularity of specific hybrid activities will continue to evolve, it's safe to assume that hybrid lifestyles are here to stay. Now is the time for planners to start considering hybrid options when trying to resolve challenges in the built environment.
While the possibilities and popularity of specific hybrid activities will continue to evolve, it's safe to assume that hybrid lifestyles are here to stay.
Planning for the Hybrid World
So far, planning for a hybrid world has mainly been about planners responding to digitalization and its effects on the built environment. Much has been said already about the dramatic effects remote work and e-commerce have had on the demand for office and retail space, the vibrancy of downtowns, and the fiscal health of cities.
As important as these effects are, they are likely just the beginning of an extensive realignment of land uses and activities in communities across the country. For example, planners are already helping communities reallocate land previously dedicated to office and retail to housing and other uses and identify opportunities for new retail and office uses in strategic locations. While local economic development has traditionally focused on attracting and retaining firms, communities may need to shift their focus to attracting workers and promoting homegrown businesses. Housing supplies will need to expand and diversify to accommodate hybrid lifestyles, including more space for home offices and more coliving or coworking spaces.
However, in addition to this response to the digitalization trend, planners might want to proactively start considering how hybrid solutions might provide opportunities to overcome barriers and constraints posed by the physical world.
A well-known example that planners have started to embrace over the last several years is online public participation. However, even here planners still have much work to do. The ongoing evolution of hybrid lifestyles may require newer and better online public engagement methods, and planners will need to continuously adjust methods to meet process objectives, integrating a mix of online and in-person participation opportunities into every planning effort.
Hybrid approaches that blend the virtual with the real world, such as augmented reality, offer new solutions to enhancing urban experiences and resolving challenges in the built environment. Photo by grinvalds/iStock/Getty Images Plus.
But community engagement is not where it ends. Planners may need to rethink transportation system objectives and design by enhancing mobility to ensure accessibility. What if the construction of additional highways could be prevented by providing digital access to certain systems and services?
Similarly, this could be an opportunity to rethink how we plan for public spaces and their accessibility, as an extended variety of equitable utilization can be provided by blending the virtual with the real world. Many museums have been using augmented reality (AR) applications to enhance the experiences of their visitors. A similar approach could be used to enhance urban design experiences in more equitable ways.
One thing is certain: as more activities move online, communities will need to find new ways to accommodate digital infrastructure and minimize the digital divide — and planners may need to upskill to keep up.
These are just a few potential considerations. Planners will need to continue responding to other implications for land use, the built environment, and public participation evolving from digitalization and hybrid lifestyles. But it will be just as important to integrate hybrid solutions to enhance the experience in the built environment in more equitable and potentially more efficient ways. The future of planning might be about planning for a hybrid world.
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