Housing Trends Shaping the Front-End of the Economy: Q&A with Kermit Baker, AIA Chief Economist, and Chris Herbert, Managing Director of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies

Demographic shifts, migration across the U.S., housing affordability, climate change, immigration patterns: These are the big trends potentially upending the way we think about the places where we live. Architects have insights into how we translate these issues into how we need to build our homes in the coming decades. The session will include a review of issues such as adapting homes to be resilient during natural disasters, supporting aging-in-place, making homes more affordable, and navigating the shifting demand patterns from migration. Housing is a leading economic indicator for the broader construction industry. Bring your questions to this informal session and leave with real-time answers that help you prepare for the future. 

Learning Objectives

  1. Learn how population trends will affect the future landscape of housing across the U.S.
  2. Gain insight into the aging population’s changing needs for our built environments.
  3. Identify opportunities for architects to be part of the solution for addressing the housing crisis.
  4. Learn how to make housing stock more sustainable and resilient.