Lifestyles

12.    Over the next 30 years or so, our lifestyles are likely to adjust in response to changing socio-economic, technological and demographic factors.

Housing

13.    With more households, there will be a need for more housing. An estimated 3.8m additional homes (comprising new and rehabilitated units) will be required in the next 20 years, mostly in urban areas^[6].

Pressure on the Green Belt

14.    The increased demand for housing will put pressure on current undeveloped land. Over 1% of England’s land area is projected to change from rural to urban land uses between 1991 and 2016. Land shortages will require greater housing densities, which may offer increased opportunities to develop housing styles which reduce travel dependency on private cars.

SMART housing

15.    There is likely to be a major technology-led drive towards the SMART house. Advances in ICT (advanced information and telecommunication technologies), construction materials and components will deliver improved living conditions, including better air quality controls, home-based (remotely controlled) health diagnostics, facilities for the elderly, infirm and disabled, intelligent, remote controlled household products for energy saving etc.

Leisure

16.    People will spend more time on leisure associated with a larger proportion of people in retirement, flexible working patterns and increased opportunities for being economically active beyond the present retirement age. Tourism continues to grow with faster long distance travel, and travel in non-peak hours may increase at a greater rate relative to commuting travel, as the retired have more leisure time.

Tele-working

17.    The potential impact of teleworking is unclear^[7], but results from the EU TELDET^[8] project suggest that the potential for teleworking in Europe is around one fifth of the labour force. Optimistic views are that teleworkers will ease traffic congestion mainly by saving fuel.