Illuminations series: Reimagining the future of spaces

Businesses have realized their corporate real estate (CRE) strategy can help solve their most pressing challenges. But the most forward-thinking leaders are delving even deeper.

They’re analyzing the macro shifts in society to understand how they will impact our future relationships with our workspaces, our buildings and even the cities we live in. This perspective allows leaders to adjust their CRE strategy to better prepare their business for what’s next.

But the future of spaces is not only linked to the deep-rooted societal issues that JLL’s leaders explore each year at The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting—there are also very practical considerations. For example, how inspiring is that building environment and the area? Is the building located in an area to tap into the necessary talent? In this piece, we put both the shifts and those practical considerations under the microscope and explore what they mean for you, your businesses and your future.

Urbanization 

Cities are the engines of growth, driving economic competitiveness. But rapid urbanization, a giant evolution in the way we work and a shifting regulatory landscape also present cities with enormous challenges.

Demand for real estate is high but the nature of that demand is shifting. For example, in Chicago’s office real estate market, a quarter of the business district sat vacant in the second quarter of 2025, according to JLL’s research.

This is not because central locations are no longer desirable but because many of the assets within them have not kept pace with evolution in demands. The emerging demand is for “super prime” assets—innovative, environmentally robust buildings and thriving work-live-play spaces.

This places cities at an inflection point: to remain relevant, future-ready spaces are required, but doing so at speed and scale in an increasingly price-sensitive market is a major challenge.

Working evolution

Employees are indeed spending more time in the office, with 37% of organizations reporting an increase in in-office expectations in our Global Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report. But flexibility is a trend that shows no signs of abating, as that same report shows 77% of organizations still offer some form of hybrid work.

This working evolution ups the ante even further on the experiences our cities and spaces need to deliver.

Employees expect spaces to keep pace with their needs and the cities to support those experiences by removing friction from their commute. The challenge for businesses is how they can meet these demands fast enough to remain competitive in today’s talent market, without rushing it and creating the obsolete buildings and spaces of tomorrow.

And for cities, the challenge is to understand how to take coordinated action that makes the most of their investment. As such, the cities currently thriving are those that are active players in global initiatives like C40, a global network of nearly 100 mayors united on issues such as clean construction, urban nature and circular economy principles like zero waste.

Regulatory landscape

Clear and comprehensive regulations are emerging as the strongest catalyst for accelerating retrofitting progress across cities worldwide.

As JLL’s Christian Ulbrich explored in this piece for the World Economic Forum, businesses and cities want to speed up the time from application to delivery and to simplify and standardize sustainability reporting frameworks. However, the inherently political nature of these elements makes progress slow.

Retrofitting and re-purposing ‘established’ building assets presents owners, occupiers and CRE investors with an opportunity to meet the demand for future-ready spaces.

The retrofit movement is already gathering momentum. According to The Economist, 70% of executives working in urban redevelopment note that over the past three years, attention has shifted from building anew towards upgrading existing buildings.

The challenge will be to execute these retrofit projects in the most cost-effective ways possible and to strike partnerships that ensure retrofitting can be delivered at the scale needed. This includes leveraging advances in low carbon materials—such as low carbon cement, recycled steel, and sustainable alternatives—which are becoming central to retrofit strategies as the industry addresses the projected rise in embodied carbon from building.

JLL’s latest research reveals a convergence of market fundamentals that is making the business case for low-carbon, energy-smart strategies stronger than ever for value creation. Yet, for the CRE industry to meet climate targets and tenant demand, retrofit rates must accelerate more than fivefold. 

Buildings can help solve the energy problem. Electricity costs are proportionate to 4%-26% of rental value, making efficiency improvements essential for building competitiveness. But buildings can do more than just consume energy—they can generate, store and actively manage power. This shift from consuming energy to actively managing and generating it can unlock additional revenue increases of 25%-50%.

JLL’s analysis across 30 markets shows that 1.5 billion square feet (~140 million square meters)—or 70% of potentially obsolete stock—sits in markets with strong sustainability value-add potential, representing a massive addressable market for investors ready to capitalize on this opportunity.

Retrofitting can also help create healthier and happier workspaces for employees. For example, a retrofit that improves indoor air quality and reduces noise disruption will improve the working environment for employees which can then drive productivity. The Economist research shows that building upgrades focused on well-being can deliver tangible returns, with some studies indicating that a 1% improvement in sustainability metrics corresponds to a 7% increase in employee thriving.

How leaders can avoid creating the obsolete spaces of tomorrow

To win in this new world, businesses know they must create spaces that not only meet the needs of today’s workers but grow with those needs as they evolve.

Successfully achieving that will require leaders to track and synthesize vast volumes of data and turn it into insight, fast.

Your ability to deploy technologies such as AI to harness the potential of every data point within your spaces will be crucial. As will developing comprehensive strategies for how you will actually use the data you capture to decode what the future holds. 

For example, tracking employee usage patterns within buildings to allow you to predict future space needs. The insights derived from this data are the difference-makers that separate companies simply reacting to workplace trends and those moving with certainty because they see them coming.

To become a leader in the future of spaces, businesses need to rethink how the built environment can be shaped to meet evolving needs.

For those ready to embrace change, there is a huge opportunity to use commercial real estate as a driver for talent attraction and retention, strategic reinvestment of finances and cost efficiency. 

We help businesses like yours overcome the obstacles so they can realize these benefits. Our expertise and deep market insight allow us to create cohesive CRE strategies built on tech-enabled, thoughtfully designed spaces that bring out the best in your people now—and in the future.

The Illuminations series shines a light on the innovative ways that buildings and the spaces around us can help solve our biggest business challenges.

Check out our Illuminations series: Real Estate Rising