Nesting, hot desking and psychological ownership of shared spaces

Nesting, hot desking and psychological ownership of shared spaces

In 2016, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released a video listing eight predictions for the world in 2030. The first prediction was “You’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy”. This prompted criticism from individuals and groups branding WEF’s vision as dystopian. In 2022, WEF Managing Director Adrian Monck addressed the mounting backlash to this video, associating it with the COVID-19 pandemic, antisemitism, mistrust of “The Great Reset” and the far-right. He argues that rather than being their vision for the future, it was little more than a topic introduced by Danish MP Ida Auken to spark debate. As of publishing, the English language version of this video is not available on WEF’s YouTube channel, however the Spanish and Mandarin language versions are.

Sam Altman’s “one-person unicorn” and the future of the office

Sam Altman’s “one-person unicorn” and the future of the office

OpenAI’s Sam Altman captured headlines for his speculation at the coming of the world’s first one-person billion-dollar company, enabled by advances in AI. With more firms comprising fewer employees (not to mention hybrid and/or remote workers), the average demand for space per company is both lower and more dynamic.

Does the Apple Vision Pro change the meta-, ahem, “spatial computing” conversation?

Does the Apple Vision Pro change the meta-, ahem, “spatial computing” conversation?

Apple has introduced its long-awaited foray into the world of extended reality: the Apple Vision Pro. It certainly didn’t go unnoticed that the phrase “spatial computing” dominated their messaging, with “metaverse” going unmentioned.

What faux Scottish lordships teach us about investor motivation

What faux Scottish lordships teach us about investor motivation

It appears these souvenir plots have no practical utility, cost considerably more in sum than the title in its entirety, cannot be resold on a secondary market for profit, do not include a registered title, and in many cases won’t actually bestow the owner with their desired title…

Whether you like it or not, WeWork’s Adam Neumann is right about the clogged toilet

Whether you like it or not, WeWork’s Adam Neumann is right about the clogged toilet

Neumann’s claim of a sense of ownership aligns with a century-old theory known as “psychological ownership”, that is, “the state in which individuals feel as though the target of ownership or a piece of that target is ‘theirs’”. The very existence of possessive pronouns illustrates how embedded it is in our collective human mindset (my spouse, her article, their lunch table). In fact, you’ll find evidence of psychological ownership all around you. You might have a favourite desk in a co-working space that you’ve decorated, a preferred parking space, or in the case of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory sitcom, “my spot”.

Tenant experience and housing-as-a-service

Tenant experience and housing-as-a-service

The private rental market represents a significant portion of housing stock. In the UK, 19 percent of the housing stock is rented privately. In the European Union it is 22 percent and, in the US, 25 percent. Private landlords are often cited as poor maintainers of homes, and this has purportedly worsened in the UK as it has become “more difficult for landlords to profit from bricks and mortar”…

First mover disadvantage: technology, IP theft and the genesis of ideas

First mover disadvantage: technology, IP theft and the genesis of ideas

In November 2022, worldwide online search interest for a three-letter acronym (GPT) barely registered. Since then, interest has skyrocketed—if you thought the boom in metaverse interest 12 months ago was big, it is dwarfed in comparison (see chart below). GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer…

Managing cybersecurity and sustainability in an increasingly digital world

Managing cybersecurity and sustainability in an increasingly digital world

To put it mildly, recent years have served as a shakedown for global supply chains. We have seen fluctuations in the price of raw materials, resulting in an added layer of uncertainty to new builds and retrofits. According to the UK Office for National Statistics’ August Business Insights and Conditions Survey, 38% of UK construction firms reported having to absorb the added costs…

Why I (partly) disagree with Mark Cuban on the metaverse

Why I (partly) disagree with Mark Cuban on the metaverse

A couple of weeks back, on the Altcoin Daily podcast, billionaire Mark Cuban shared his thoughts on the metaverse and virtual land. His criticisms are important for a number of reasons. Not only is he a billionaire, but he’s a billionaire on the record as a crypto enthusiast and even an investor in Yuga Labs (the entity behind Bored Ape Yacht Club and their recent foray into virtual land through ‘Otherside’)…

The steady march toward the virtual workplace

The steady march toward the virtual workplace

Once the coronavirus pandemic descended on us in early-2020, discussions around the future of the workplace went into overdrive. Investors dived into anything they assumed would benefit from the pandemic, including NASDAQ-listed Zoom Technologies (ZTNO). There was a significant problem with this particular case…

Interest in ‘no-code’ has skyrocketed since 2020, but why now?

Interest in ‘no-code’ has skyrocketed since 2020, but why now?

A quick search on Google Trends tells us that the ‘No-Code Development Platform’ topic has been experiencing an upswing in worldwide interest since the end of 2019. The same applies to ‘Low-Code Development Platform’… but why now, and what do these terms actually mean?