From a sharing economy to a sterile economy: how will COVID-19 change our future homes?

Back in the early 2000s, Australians visiting overseas airports would often be amazed to discover sensor-activated taps in the terminal bathrooms. 

“Wow! You just put your hand under, and the tap turns on!” they’d exclaim. So futuristic. 

Nowadays, we have them too – not just in airports, but in shopping centres and other public bathrooms as they’re a more hygienic alternative to turning on a tap. 

But what other touch points will we be keen to eliminate in a post-COVID-19 world? What other technological advances will come about as a result of the pandemic, and how will they change the way we live? 

“The future is cancelled,” says futurist Mark Pesce. “All the stuff that we thought was coming is going to be different.” 

From the prediction of shared, autonomous vehicles to more tightly packed inner-city housing, Mr Pesce says there are a host of things that were likely going to be a part of our future that now will not, thanks to the coronavirus crisis. 

“We were seeing this real growth in sharing culture, and we now know that sharing is a very big vector for getting bugs from different places,” he says. “We’re going to see a transition from a sharing economy to what I’m calling a sterile economy.” 

Companies will start to find innovative ways to ensure their products are clean or easily cleanable – furniture, phones, computers, car interiors and home appliances will be more sanitised than ever before. 

“We have a much broader material palette now, and 3D printing, so there’s going to be a lot of interesting different designs,” Mr Pesce says. 

This will also give way to some innovative cleaning products, including UV light robots, futurist Ross Dawson says. 

“They’re mainly used in hospitals at the moment,” Mr Dawson says. “But just as we have Roombas or other robot vacuum cleaners at home, we could have robot disinfection units which go around a home, or potentially around apartment blocks or through a gym or other shared spaces.”

Gone will be the days of pressing elevator buttons, turning door handles or touching screens at the checkout. Voice activation will be a key part of this, Mr Dawson says, but also gesture activation. 

“A lot of people focus on voice,” he says. “But you can make gestures to open curtains or change volume levels on TVs. Also things like turning on taps or other things where you’re trying to avoid touch.” 

Of course we’ve had this technology for a while – just think about those sensor taps in the airport bathroom. But we’ve now started to realise the value of these technologies, Mr Dawson says, and they will increasingly become a part of the everyday, not just in public spaces but in our homes. 

“In most cases the pandemic has accelerated the application of technology to homes because there’s now more compelling reasons to do so.” 

The obvious one is the need for the home office, Mr Dawson says, with many people now working from home. He predicts architects and developers will prioritise soundproof home offices with built-in technology such as green screens for video conferences and presentations. 

But, he says, one of the most important changes to the home will be around health care – with sensors in different rooms to monitor our health and well-being. 

“That can be from being embedded in the bathroom to detect our breath or to look at our complexion or to have in our chairs to weigh us or to get our pulse rate detected from our clothing,” he says. 

“There’s an incredible amount of data we can have that can be used for preventative medicine and health care.” 

Elevators in apartment buildings and office blocks are key candidates for voice activation, Mr Pesce says, but also to be a part of maps apps to tell us how long it will take us to get to the 50th floor – particularly if we have to line up for the lift to avoid being crammed in. 

“We have all these great tools for scheduling, and now we have a different kind of scheduling around physical and social distancing.” 

The way we receive deliveries could also be radically changed, with “sidewalk robots” bringing us our parcels and takeaway food. 

“A lot has been made about airborne drone delivery of pizzas and things like that but, in fact, what is already happening at a pretty significant scale in certain communities is sidewalk robots,” Mr Dawson says. 

Starship Technologies launched their robot delivery service in the UK town of Milton Keynes in mid-March. The small, Esky-sized autonomous robots deliver food and groceries to households, and the company plans to expand to other towns in the UK and US in the near future. 

Pandemics throughout history have influenced the way we design our homes and our cities, but what is different today is the technology is mostly available for us to use straight away, Mr Dawson says. 

 “We’re worlds apart from a hundred years ago in terms of our capability to respond,” he says. “Humans are extraordinarily adaptable. We’re saying ‘let’s find a solution, let’s find the best way to do that’ and it’s a fascinating process to watch.”