Architecture of connection: Sustainability trends in social and community outcomes

As this year’s sustainable trends series draws to a close, it’s essential to highlight a fundamental truth that underpins the recent ecologically driven shifts in the industry: a building’s core sustainability is inextricably linked to its social and community impact. 

A structure that exists in isolation from the needs and well-being of its inhabitants and neighbours, no matter how outstanding its environmental profile, really, ultimately falls short of genuine sustainability.

Because in its most profound sense, sustainability both encapsulates and transcends environmentalism. It is a much more robust and holistic pursuit encompassing environmental, social and economic dimensions, each intrinsically interwoven, interconnected and impossible to pull apart.

And since architecture and design wield such a significant influence over the human experience and – our fundamental sense of place – sustainable practice must actively strive to cultivate holistic well-being, crafting spaces that serve as catalysts for social interaction, inclusivity and a sense of belonging and connection. 

Because, if we pause and consider the bigger picture, that’s what it’s all about: connection to our locale, community, environment and, most importantly, to each other. 

Here, we consider some of the most significant trends that place community and social outcomes at the heart of sustainable design, fostering our collective sense of belonging.

The conventional structure of the top-down design process is slowly giving way to one that actively engages communities as integral partners from the earliest stages of project ideation.

Co-design, a profoundly collaborative approach that genuinely aims to involve end-users and communities, is gaining significant prominence around the world as an essential pathway to more socially attuned outcomes, reflecting a core principle of designing with people, not to or for them.

Architects are employing various participatory design methods to ensure community voices are heard and integrated into their projects, with community workshops and consultations emerging as some of the most valuable platforms for residents to voice their opinions, concerns, and aspirations.

Design-led public engagement is fast emerging as a vital contributor to people’s sense of agency, participation and connection to their community, with existing community governance structures continuing to be one of the key principles for effective community-led consultation, ensuring that engagement is respectful and aligned with established community protocols.

This kind of authentic, radically inclusive collaboration leads to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of complex challenges and fosters innovative solutions that genuinely reflect local identity. And, perhaps even more crucially, involving the community directly builds a greater sense of ownership, belonging, and pride in the resulting space, making people more likely to use and care for it in the long term. 

This relationship-based approach grounds projects in local needs, ensuring they generate tangible social value from the outset, and by empowering communities to shape their own spaces, we foster a deeper connection with their architectural context and ensure that it genuinely serves its intended purpose – provide enduring, healthy shelter and sense of comfort, and meaningfully contribute to creating a more resilient, richer, and tighter, social fabric.

This focus on nurturing the social fabric is also shifting the way we perceive modern buildings – rather than the stand-alone structures they’re traditionally erected as, they’re integral components of a larger, interconnected social ecosystem. 

This shift towards architecture as a social network is manifested through deliberate integration of essential social infrastructure elements, like community gardens, flexible shared workspaces, accessible childcare facilities that support families – and mindfully designed public spaces that serve as crucial hubs for community gathering and exchange.

Mixed-use developments, retail centres and even hospitality venues are being designed as socially driven destinations, and shared spaces within buildings are recognised as vital community nurturers, a concept that shows up as open-plan living and dedicated communal areas in housing.

We’re also seeing an enthusiastic rise in community-centric mixed-use developments that double as vibrant social hubs, integrating diverse functions, while models like build-to-rent (BRT) are incorporating extensive shared facilities to genuinely nurture a sense of belonging among occupants.

This shift is also affecting how buildings interact with their immediate environment. We’re seeing structures that mirror the architectural language of train stations they’re adjacent to, while the rise of 20 or 15-minute neighbourhoods acknowledges the expanse of the social ecosystem we operate within. 

This tremendous shift significantly amplifies the social sustainability of our buildings, transforming them from functional collections of brick-and-mortar structures into interconnected communities that support the holistic well-being of their residents and neighbours, and foster a more profound sense of connection with their context. 

This emerging trend is a timely and fundamental reminder that resilient and environmentally forward buildings require the intricate security of social scaffolding for the community to flourish.

The strengthening trend towards embedding universal design principles as a core, non-negotiable component of social sustainability and equity in the built environment is increasingly recognised not just for specific user groups, but as fundamental to achieving broader social sustainability goals.

We’re moving past the compliance of designing accessible public bathrooms and, instead, starting to create life-altering environments that are accessible and easily usable by all people to the greatest extent possible. The result? A radically inclusive built environment that doesn’t stigmatise, promoting participation and an improved quality of life for everyone. 

But what’s the difference between basic accessible design compliance and genuinely universal design? It’s all about integrating a user-centred approach from the earliest stages and seamlessly incorporating intuitive and inclusive features that benefit a wide range of users without bias. 

The aim is to cater to a full spectrum of human diversity with steadfast dedication, bridging the gap left by purely environmental metrics that might overlook these nuanced occupant needs. 

While the path to widespread adoption, particularly in mainstream housing, has faced challenges over the years – particularly when it comes to potential cost concerns – the dynamic push beyond compliance and minimum legal requirements, and towards genuine design inclusivity is set to gain momentum. 

With a range of policy initiatives promoting universal design moving the goal post and either encouraging or mandating the adoption of universal design, architects and designers are looking to develop proficiency beyond minimum standards. 

And remember that achieving genuine universal design outcomes will require more than just applying principles – it will demand the inclusive co-creation processes we’ve already touched on earlier to actively involve people with diverse disabilities, limitations, issues, or life experiences, and create solutions that genuinely meet their needs.

Genuinely embracing the full spectrum of the human experience under the banner of inclusivity and universal design implies innate flexibility and adaptability, and the ability to translate a long-term view of the built environment that evolves with us emerges as a crucial cornerstone of enduring architecture and design.

Whether it’s designing for multi-generational living, ensuring that spaces can comfortably accommodate individuals across different life stages and with varying needs, this inherently optimistic design approach yields spaces that are not only accessible but have the capacity to be easily reconfigured.

From community halls that can transform into market spaces or dance studios to cleverly considered, flexible housing that enthusiastically accommodates changing family structures – adaptable design ensures their continued relevance and utility over the long term. And that promotes social resilience and maximises both the relevance and the lifespan of our buildings. 

We opened this article by highlighting the importance of environmental metrics, and it seems particularly relevant to close it on the same topic because the growing imperative to prioritise the social impact of architectural projects brings about an essential requirement to quantify it, driving the development of new metrics and evaluation frameworks. How else can we measure the humanitarian success of our increasingly environmentally driven design?

Architects, urban planners, and social scientists are collaborating to devise methods for assessing how design decisions affect critical aspects of community well-being, including social cohesion, community safety, accessibility and overall quality of life. 

By collecting and analysing data on these social outcomes, we can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of different design approaches and build a stronger evidence base for advocating for more socially sustainable practices, allowing us to move beyond anecdotal evidence and demonstrate the tangible benefits of prioritising social and community outcomes in the design process, ultimately leading to more impactful and people-centric built environments.

Unsurprisingly, this trend is increasingly supported by government policies and the evolution of green building certification. For instance, the governmental ‘Measuring What Matters Framework’ serves as a key example, aiming to integrate considerations of well-being alongside traditional economic measures in policy development. 

In terms of certifications, the Green Star rating system in Australia, while initially focused on environmental aspects, is increasingly incorporating a broader assessment of liveability factors, while the World Green Building Council has also emphasised ‘social value’ as a key principle in its framework for sustainable buildings. 

These slow but steady shifts reflect a growing and integrated understanding of social and community benefits within the broader sustainable architecture agenda, reinforcing the importance of not just designing green but also more equitable buildings.

These trends undoubtedly acknowledge the inherent and intricate interconnectedness of people and planet. And what seems particularly clear is that the pursuit of a sustainable built environment hinges on a fundamental recognition: the well-being of our communities is not a secondary consideration; instead, our communities are the very epicentre of our architectural efforts and the very foundation upon which long-term ecological and economic sustainability must be built. 

And this holistic vision, where social and environmental considerations are inextricably linked, is, in fact, much more than an amalgamation of trends – it solidifies into the only genuine definition of sustainable architecture and design.

The 2025 Sustainability Awards are now open, and our jury is looking for innovative designs that fuse environmental responsibility, human well-being and outstanding visual appeal.

Submit your entry today and inspire the next generation of the sustainable building industry. Click here to find out more.

Image: Last year's Editor's Choice, Barker College Maths and Student Hub by Architectus / Photography by Brett Boardman, Martin Mischkuling, Grant Leslie