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The prestigious event, held once again at JP Morgan Chase headquarters in New York, started with a visual art display from Louie Schwarzberg, where the audience saw images of nature projected onto buildings and structures around the world, including the Sphere in Las Vegas, in celebration of Earth Day.
Wellness Real Estate: Market Growth (2019-2023) and Future Developments
Katherine Johnston, Senior Research Fellow, Global Wellness Institute
Ophelia Yeung, Senior Research Fellow, Global Wellness Institute
New research shows that the wellness real estate market is now valued at 438 billion USD worldwide, and is expected to be close to 1 trillion USD by 2028. From 2019 – 2022, wellness real estate was the fastest-growing sector, at 21.8%. This sector in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 1.2 billion USD in 2023.
Neuroarchitecture: An Old Brain in a New Environment
Anjan Chatterjee, MD, Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture, University of Pennsylvania; Director, Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics
Anjan explains how our brains are always responding, in one way or another, to the built environment in which we are in, however not all people respond in the same way. Public art is an antidote to monotony, buildings are a semi-permeable membrane, we need to allow nature in.
Sierra A Mar: A Vision of Protection and Restoration of Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Natural Resources
Richard Gere, Actor, Advocate & Humanitarian
Amy McDonald, CEO, Under a Tree Consulting
Richard talked about his upbringing and his ancestors growing up as ‘boys on the farm’. He has always felt close to nature, “We are all living creatures breathing the same air and inhabiting the same earth.” Richard feels a sense of responsibility and humility, as a very small part of something incredibly vast.
During a hypothetical conversation, Richard and his wife speculated on what they would create if they ever developed land. To him, luxury is space and quiet. Finding balance between developing and incorporating the local people and their future generations was paramount. Realizing that most developers were more invested in the profit they could make, they connected with friends who were developing XALA, south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. This project aligned with their vision and they moved forward with this low-density development.
With mountains, leading to sand dunes, estuaries, lagoons and the ocean, this development includes over 3.1 miles (5 km) of untouched coastline and incredible beauty. Richard met the local people, such as fishermen and farmers, and incorporated them into the project. He discovered that when you talk to the grandmothers of the communities, they can tell you what the community needs most. Often, it is activities for the children to take part in after school.
Their prime motivation is to make their lives, and other people’s lives, meaningful. “We can all have this in common, whatever we do with our lives”.
Development, to Richard, means reaching out and connecting – to the land, and to the people, creating joy. “A magic energy starts to emerge from people and ideas.” XALA embodies ‘from ridge to reef’, as the development spans from the ridges of the mountains, out into the oceans.
Improving Business Performance Through People-First Strategies
Rachel Hodgdon, President & CEO, International WELL Building Institute
A business with thriving people is a business that is positioned to thrive. Many corporate ESG strategies (Environment, Social, Governance) focus on the Environment and the Governance but are lacking in the Social factors.
The health and wellbeing of the people within the business is paramount and the research proves it. The environment; where you sit, and who you sit with have a higher influence on your health than genetic factors. The social factor is often considered ‘nice to have’, not essential, and difficult to track, but that is not the case.
Measuring the Health of Your Buildings: The Why and How To Do It
Joseph G. Allen, Associate Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Director, Harvard’s Healthy Buildings Program
Following a trend from last year, Joseph shows how new technology can take the ‘pulse’ of a building, air quality can be measured with easily affordable, hand-held instruments available for around 100 USD. People share this information on social media and shame companies that are not living up to expectations!
It is recommended to keep Carbon Dioxide levels below 800 ppm, the level in the room at the event was measured at 703; JP Morgan Chase has been monitoring and managing these since January 2020, acting ahead of the pandemic.
Longevity For Real!
Susie Ellis, Chair & CEO, Global Wellness Institute, Global Wellness Summit
Deborah Szekely, Co-Founder, Rancho La Puerta
Deborah, having recently celebrated her 102nd birthday, asked the audience, “Who actively practices wellness?” she was evidently impressed with the response in the room!
Rancho La Puerta was started in 1940, the ranch takes only 125 guests at a time, keeping the experience intimate where guests really get to know each other. Continuing a repeating theme, Deborah spoke of magic; “People bring magic, or take magic away, you have to be open to magic when it comes along.”
Retail Reimagined: Biophilic Design as a Catalyst for Health & Prosperity
Jennifer Walsh, Founder & Creative Director, Lost Art of Being Human
Retail has largely been overlooked in the growth of wellness real estate. Jennifer invites the audience to think of a store as an ecosystem. With biophilic design that embraces the consumer, we are sensorial beings craving sensorial experiences, create spaces for human flourishing.
Natural elements of biophilic design radically shape our cognitive experience; mostly unconsciously. We have continuous neurochemical and biological responses to our immediate environment. Attractive design elements along streets encourage people to walk slower which can increase store visits.
Home Is Where the Health Is
Helen Messier, MD, PhD, Chief Medical & Science Officer, Fountain Life
The home IS the new wearable! Tech around the home can monitor biometric data and deliver medical level results and impactful lifestyle advice; from Smart fridges, smart cooktops, smart beds, and smart toilets, to stairs that can measure and detect changes in gait, circadian lighting, air quality sensors and AI-powered showers.
Healthy Living Communities
Alfredo Bataller Pineda, CEO, SHA Wellness Clinic & AB Living Group
SHA Wellness is aiming to create another blue zone on their 25-hectare island location in the United Arab Emirates. SHA residences serve the needs of their clientele, offering a place to live in a wellness environment.
Integrating healthy spaces, nutrition, mind and body modalities and even addressing wellness for kids. AB Living is also partnering with St. Regis and other luxury hotel brands to create wellness residences, many along the Riviera Maya region of Mexico.
Putting Humanity Center Stage in Real Estate Development
Andressa Gulin, MD, Director of Strategy and Innovation, AG7
Andressa was initially inspired to change the mindset in healthcare, to understand the digital disruption happening in the early 2000’s. The market needs to understand and respond to the human’s needs. Currently, there is an individual revolution, human behavior generates opportunities, and this drives change in our buildings.
AG7 in Brazil is focused on wellness and wellness real estate, creating homes that connect the urban to nature. A portal of biophilic design slows the heartbeat as our brain understands that we belong in nature.
The ROI of Wellness in Hotels, Residences, Communities
Amy McDonald, CEO, Under a Tree Consulting
Amy explains that wellness spaces and programming can generate a faster return on investment for real estate. This can be woven through any real estate project. Touchless therapies and retail can really improve the bottom line. Social spaces replace traditional, quiet spas in the right circumstances, as consumers connect over ice baths or recovery treatments. Wellness is not an amenity, wellness is a thread that ties everything together.
Direct revenue includes spa and wellness revenue, but indirect revenue can be forecast at about 8-20%, coming from the market differentiation that the wellness component provides the real estate project.
www.globalwellnesssummit.com / www.globalwellnessinstitute.org
By Sara Jones, Editor
