Lottie Hanwell is a behavioural analyst at Canvas8. She has a degree in English Literature and Spanish, and spends a lot of time thinking, researching and writing about developments in society and culture. On her weekends, she likes to run, read and make a mess in the kitchen.

The events of 2020 have radically reshaped how we think about our homes and the people within them – in September 2020, 

 of Britons say that their home has become even more important to making their lives better since the spring lockdown. As the outbreak of COVID-19 forced people to shelter in place, the pandemic opened new doors of possibility for the home space: kitchens became classrooms, bedrooms doubled as yoga studios, and living rooms were the centre of the Saturday night pub quiz. They’re also investing in spaces to work at home for the long-term – a study by the American Institute of Architects finds that 

 of firms saw increasing client requests for home offices in 2020.

With so much more time to spend at home, some people were driven into a frenzy of DIY and home improvement – from 

 For others, the improvement started from within, and calming, domestic rituals helped people slow down and 

 of their pre-pandemic lives. Whether it’s regular Zoom calls with grandparents or shopping for sheltering neighbours, as lockdown pressed pause on people’s busy schedules, many took time to reconnect with their home spaces, family networks, and local communities. While 

 witnessed a key moment in their child’s life that they would have otherwise missed, 

 of Americans with a partner say their relationship is better since the pandemic began.

But home life hasn’t been a source of solace and refuge for all – the pandemic has brought to light stark inequalities in people’s living situations. Lockdown might have been a welcome opportunity to slow down and take stock for some people, but a stressful and frightening experience for others, such as key workers or those living with abusers. It’s therefore necessary to acknowledge that the home has meant very different things to different people in 2020. In this chapter of our 2021 Expert Outlook, sociologist Dr. Katherine Twamley unpacks the impact of the pandemic on family relationships; environmental psychologist Lily Bernheimer hails the end of open-plan home design, and sociologist and demographer Dr. Philip N. Cohen discusses life-planning in the context of widespread uncertainty.

People will recognise privilege as a driver of success

 is an associate professor of Sociology at University College London

The pandemic has driven an interesting shift in people’s attitudes towards their home environments. Whether it’s having a spare room to work in or having a garden, we’ve seen a lot of people talk about feeling ‘lucky’ or ‘fortunate’ for the space they have. This emphasis on luck and privilege represents an interesting shift in the ways in which people interpret their own success. Up until now – particularly in British society – success has generally been conceived as something that's achieved, with a strong work ethic separating the fortunes of the haves and the have-nots. In light of the pandemic, however, more well-off people have been interpreting their surroundings not in terms of how hard they worked to achieve them, but in how privileged they are to have them, while those lacking in space and resources are viewed as unlucky.

Another surprising element of the pandemic’s impact on home and relationships has been the consolidation of the family unit. We expected to see a much greater sense of discordance as families spent more time at home together – and while there was some, generally, people were able to find consensus in their interpretations of the rules. If one member of a family unit thought they should be very vigilant of the virus, the other members tended to also think that, and children followed suit. The impact of this was to bring households together and strengthen ties. Having removed a lot of elements that made family life so busy before the pandemic – such as commuting to work and having action-packed social calendars – a lot of people came to appreciate the simplicity of lockdown life, which entailed spending a lot more time with partners and children. Most people have seen that working from home is possible, and we’re likely to see an uptick in people demanding greater flexibility from work moving forward with a key part of the motivation for this being the ability to spend increased time with family.

The pandemic has brought about a shift in how people conceive technology within the home environment – the lifeline-like status that digital tools have taken on in the context of social isolation has seen them become more widely accepted within the home

On the flip side of this, however, we saw a closing down of intimacy in people’s relationships with those people outside of their immediate circles. For example, people have become increasingly wary of interacting with people they didn’t know or with people who they knew had differing attitudes towards the pandemic. The impact of the pandemic on relationships has therefore manifested itself in two key ways: the consolidation of the family unit and people with similar views on the pandemic versus the closing down of intimacy between strangers and people with different attitudes towards the virus.

We’ve seen families embrace digital technologies throughout the pandemic, and looking to 2021, technology will continue to play an integral role in family life. From young children using screens to keep occupied during lockdown to grandparents getting the hang of video-conferencing tools to contact their family, the pandemic has driven up digital literacy across generations. It’s also brought about a shift in how people conceive technology within the home environment – the lifeline-like status that digital tools have taken on in the context of social isolation has seen them become more widely accepted within the home. For example, in the absence of childcare, many working parents had to relinquish their concerns surrounding screen-time as time spent online became a key way to keep their children busy during lockdown. Once these habits and routines are formed, they can be difficult to go back on, so we’re likely to see a continued uptake of the digital within homemaking in the year to come.

People are creating makeshift at-home offices for remote-working

Designers will favour smaller, cosier spaces that separate work from leisure

 is an environmental psychology consultant and director of Space Works Consulting

2020 has been a challenging year in terms of social isolation and loneliness, and it’s refocused people on the importance of emotionally supportive relationships. With fewer opportunities to get out and socialise, people have been ploughing more time and attention into their personal lives and cultivating stronger relationships closer to home. Romantically, people have been seeking out stability. There’s been a shift away from casual, no-strings-attached dating, and a reorientation towards committed, monogamous relationships as more people seek stronger connections with those they feel that they can rely on.

The huge surge in pet ownership reflects a similar desire to take on greater responsibility within our personal lives. Quality rather than quantity has come to define people’s social relationships, too. There’s been a paring-down of the number of weaker-tie relationships that people are investing in and a greater emphasis on maintaining long-standing relationships – the old friends or distant family members, who before the pandemic we might have only spoken to a handful of times a year, but are now in regular contact with through Zoom calls.

As people come to realise the psychological disadvantages of working from the bedroom, we’re likely to see people seek out smaller, cosier spaces designated solely for sleep and relaxation, rather than large master bedrooms

In the year ahead, achieving a sense of separation between the myriad, competing new uses of home space will be front-of-mind for home designers. We’re already seeing a huge backlash against open-plan living, which has been a formidable trend in interiors for a number of years. It’s reported that 

 have open-plan living and dining areas. Now, people are investing in partitions such as bookshelves, plants, and screens to create a more closed-off feel to these open spaces, segregating areas they use for work from those they use to relax. As people come to realise the psychological disadvantages of working from the bedroom, we’re likely to see people seek out smaller, cosier spaces designated solely for sleep and relaxation, rather than large master bedrooms. On the whole, there’s an increased desire for domestic space, which serves as an interesting counterpoint to the popularity of tiny homes. Where this can’t be achieved, people are looking for innovations that create distinctions between the remote-working environment and the home space.

By ruling out most opportunities for travel, the pandemic has prompted people to refocus on their local areas. Physically and psychologically, people have been a lot more rooted in where they live, and have come to recognise the importance of having all their daily needs met within their local environment. As people register the benefits of suburban and rural lifestyles, we’re seeing a mass movement away from denser urban areas in major cities such as London, New York, and San Francisco. But I don’t see this as the downfall of cities – it’s more likely to bring about a rejigging of priorities when it comes to city life. There’s a growing desire to live in communities where amenities such as shops, social venues, and natural areas are only a short walk away. People don’t want to rely on cars or public transport to get around every day. This is an opportunity to think about how we can make better 15-minute cities – or walkable communities – both in urban and suburban environments, to ensure that the local environment is much better equipped to support our needs on a daily basis.

People are framing access to extra space in their home as ‘lucky’

More time at home means people are missing out on crucial low-stakes relationships

 is a sociologist and demographer at the University of Maryland

As more people work and learn from home, the boundaries between their outer and inner lives are dissolving, and people have been seeing different sides to the people they live, work, and interact with. For example, children that are doing school over Zoom are seeing their teachers in their home environments and getting to meet their pets. Similarly, partners working from home alongside one another have a greater window into each other’s professional lives. This could have a positive or negative impact on people’s relationships – on the one hand, it creates the opportunity to recognise different qualities in a partner, such as leadership skills and professional capability. On the other, people might be disappointed to recognise how differently their partner behaves outside of a home context. It will be interesting to see the impact that bringing all of these elements of the outside world into our homes will have in the year to come.

The pandemic has placed a lot of things concerning families and relationships on hold. Some of this is purely technical. For example, marriage and divorce rates are significantly down as many people are not physically able to go to the courthouse and file the paperwork. But a lot of the drivers of family change are also being impaired. For young people, isolation has hampered their opportunities to meet new people and progress through adulthood – many are holding off from moving out, or are even moving back in with parents. It’s also limited people’s abilities to plan for the future. One of the things that’s dislocating to people is the unknowability of the future:where is society going? Can we assume our kids are going to be better off than ourselves?If people are confident about the future, they’re comfortable making long-term plans, such as deciding to have children or planning career developments. In the absence of certainty, people make banana bread – they focus on the immediate and short-term as a way of coping.

One of the things that’s dislocating to people is the unknowability of the future ... If people are confident about the future, they’re comfortable making long-term plans, such as deciding to have children or planning career developments

Finding enjoyment and sanctuary in our home lives is positive, but the downside of this is that we’re building our walls higher and our distrust of others is increasing. In sociology, we’re very aware of the strength of weak ties – the importance of maintaining low-stakes relationships with people outside of our immediate circles. We don’t realise we rely on these interactions so much and therefore we don’t do a lot to make them intentional, but they are crucial for our development and sense of security, and I’m not sure that you can replicate those through Slack messages and Zoom happy hours. As people conduct more of their lives from home, they’re having to get by without these low-stakes relationships and unscheduled social interactions – this could present a real challenge for social cohesion moving forward.

However, as we turn the corner on the pandemic – either because of good public health measures or a vaccine – we’re likely to see a rebound. Will we have a baby boom with people getting so excited it’s over that they all decide to have children again? Or will we have a golden age, a roaring 20s of exuberance and outward-looking optimism, which is what we had after the last great pandemic? That’s possible. I think it probably depends on whether the victory over the virus is real and sudden or a gradual and demoralising war of attrition.

Dr. Katherine Twamley is an associate professor in sociology at UCL. Her research focuses on gender, love and intimacy, and family, with a particular interest in India and the Indian diaspora. She is currently leading a multi-nation research project called ‘Family and Community Transitions under COVID-19’.

Lily Bernheimer is an environmental psychologist, consultant, and author of 

The Shaping of Us: How Everyday Spaces Structure Our Lives, Behavior, and Well-Being

. Pioneering user experience design for the built environment, Lily has led human-centered design projects across the workspace, urban, residential, and justice sectors since 2007. As founding director of Space Works Consulting, she has worked with organisations like the Ministry of Justice, Transport for London, and Grainger plc, and writes for 

. Her research on wellbeing in prison design with matter architecture was awarded the 2018 RIBA President’s Award for research in ethics and sustainable development.

Philip N. Cohen is a sociologist and demographer at the University of Maryland who focuses his research on families, social demography, and social inequality.

Global

Home and Relationships

Home and garden

How has the pandemic affected intimacy? Why are people going off open-plan design? And will remote-working trigger an urban exodus? In this part of the 2021 Expert Outlook, we speak to three experts about the forces set to shape our homes and relationships in the year ahead.

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