The diverse elements of design — encompassing creation, functionality, and beauty — can be utilized across a multitude of fields and enhance their value. While this is uniformly applicable to architecture, its significance has not historically been recognized in the realm of real estate, despite their close connection. Typically, real estate value has been assessed based on specific sales metrics: income produced, recent comparable sales, and replacement expenses.
Currently, a recent publication by scholars at MIT investigates how design can be measured within real estate appraisal. “Value of Design: Creating Agency Through Data-Driven Insights” (Applied Research and Design Publishing) employs research grounded in data to uncover how design leaves quantifiable marks in the constructed environment that align with actual economic, social, and environmental results.
The late MIT Research Scientist Andrea Chegut, alongside Visiting Instructor Minkoo Kang SMRED ’18, Helena Rong SMArchS ’19, and Juncheng “Tony” Yang SMArchS ’19, present a compilation of years of interdisciplinary social science inquiry that intertwine historical perspectives, real-world examples, and critical insights aimed at fostering a broader conversation about design, valuation, and the constructed environment.
Kang, Rong, and Yang first crossed paths as students at the MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab, co-founded and directed by Chegut, who sadly passed away in December 2022. Under Chegut’s guidance, interdisciplinary research at the laboratory laid the groundwork for the analytical tools and methodologies that form the backbone of the book’s fundamental claims. The lab was subsequently dissolved following Chegut’s death.
Q: How might the instruments utilized in this research affect the decision-making processes of an investor or real estate developer regarding a property?
Kang: This publication does not provide a formula for consistent outcomes, nor should it. Real estate is significantly contextual, with each project embodying its own limitations and possibilities. What our study offers is proof: examining two decades of data patterns in New York City, we observe that design characteristics — physical elements like podiums, distinctive non-orthogonal shapes, and high-rise setbacks; environmental attributes such as access to daylight, greenery, and expansive views; and a building’s integration within its surroundings — exert a more profound and consistent impact on value than the industry typically acknowledges.
Rong: One factor leading to the exclusion of design from appraisal practices is the isolation of architectural information: plans remain within distinct firms, and there are no standard practices for identifying or measuring the elements that constitute design. While we have numerous databases, a genuine “design database” has yet to be established. This book begins to bridge that divide by cataloging architectural elements and demonstrating methods for their measurement, utilizing insights from architectural theory and exploring computational techniques and tools. With today’s technological advancements in reality capture and the comprehensive transaction data we gathered, we revealed enduring patterns: Buildings that embraced thoughtful design frequently excelled, not merely in financial metrics, but also in enhancing neighborhood identity and maintaining demand. The takeaway isn’t prescriptive but rather suggestive. Design should not be regarded as merely an aesthetic consideration or an intangible factor. Its effects are lasting, quantifiable, and, crucially, undervalued, which is why it should be a priority for developers and investors.
Q: Can you provide an instance of how design impacts urban transformation?
Kang: As a designer and real estate developer, my endeavors exist at the crossroads of architecture, finance, and community dynamics. I frequently collaborate with local stakeholders to reimagine neglected or underused properties as valuable, long-lasting assets — employing design as a means to shape development strategy and as a medium for community engagement and building consensus.
A recent project involved assisting a longtime property owner in converting their single-family residence into a 40-unit, mixed-income apartment complex. Instead of pursuing maximum density at any cost, the initiative emphasized livability, sustainability, and contextual compatibility — creating compact units with ample access to light and air, shared amenities like co-working areas and community spaces, and energy-efficient performance meeting passive house standards.
Through design, we unlocked a novel housing typology — one that harmonizes financial viability with community stewardship and enduring affordability. This serves as a reminder that design’s impact on urban evolution goes beyond mere aesthetics or form. It influences who development serves, how neighborhoods shift, and what types of futures can be realized.
Q: In what way can this research assist policymakers?
Yang: Policymakers typically look at broader and long-term urban outcomes: livability, resilience, equity, and community coherence. This research provides the empirical foundation to connect those outcomes with tangible design decisions.
By quantifying how design affects not just real estate performance but also neighborhood identity, accessibility, and sustainability, the book offers policymakers a fresh evidence base to shape zoning laws, public incentives, and regulatory frameworks. More significantly, we believe this type of data-driven insight can help harmonize interests among diverse stakeholders: urban planners, private developers, community organizations, and residents, by illustrating that high-quality design yields shared, long-term benefits.
In an era when urban spaces are increasingly contested, demonstrating the measurable effects of design helps shift discussions from ideology to informed decision-making. It provides public agencies with a stronger foundation to demand more and to form coalitions around the neighborhoods we wish to nurture. Essentially, this research fosters agency by making design comprehensible in urban areas where critical decisions are made. The form of agency we’re interested in emphasizes influence rather than control. Design shapes how cities operate and feel, whom they serve, and how they evolve. Yet, all too often, decisions are made without acknowledging design’s significance. By highlighting how design leaves lasting, measurable impressions in the built environment, this work empowers designers and allied stakeholders to have a greater voice in shaping development and public discussions. It also invites broader involvement: community groups, resident advocates, and others can use this evidence to articulate the importance of building attributes and environmental quality. In this sense, agency is collective. It extends beyond merely empowering designers to equipping all stakeholders to recognize design as a common, strategic tool for developing more equitable, resilient, and humane urban futures.