Real Estate Has a Disengagement Problem — And It’s Our Job to Fix It - by Chenai Gondo

At the end of the pandemic, I swore I’d never attend a Zoom party again. I was done. Remember those? Sitting in your living room, pretending to enjoy a quiz while someone’s Wi-Fi cut out mid-sentence? I am so glad the metaverse didn't become a thing.

I often think that we haven’t fully come back from that era. People are simultaneously lonely and bored of being online. We crave connection, but so many of us have forgotten how to do it. Every week there’s a new think piece about how young people don’t know how to date, talk, or just be. But it’s not just them. The young. The old. Everyone.

And that matters for real estate.

Because behind all that loneliness is something even bigger: disengagement.

Empty squares. Quiet offices. “Community spaces” that no one actually uses. Retail destinations that were designed for vibrancy but feel half-asleep. People have stopped showing up, and that’s not just a social problem. It’s a commercial one.

The Cost of Disengagement

Disengagement eats away at value. It shows up in footfall data, in tenant churn, in underperforming amenities and public spaces that no longer justify their upkeep.

And yet, it’s not just about numbers - it’s about how people feel when they’re in a place.

If a destination doesn’t inspire belonging, curiosity, or joy, people move through it like ghosts. They come for a task and leave immediately after. No connection. No loyalty. No repeat visits.

And here’s the irony: we’re in an era of data overload, but the real challenge for property owners isn’t information, it’s emotion. You can’t measure your way out of disengagement. You have to design your way out of it.

From Insight to Activation

That’s where RealService comes in.

We are a customer experience consultancy - insight interviews, reports, CX strategy - but we don’t just deliver a powerpoint deck and walk away. We roll up our sleeves and help our clients act on what the data tells them.

A huge part of that work is destination activation - creating experiences that re-engage people with the places they live, work, and visit. It’s not just about events for the sake of events; it’s about building emotional infrastructure.

What does that look like in practice?

It could be as small as a weekend workshop that draws local families into a retail centre - or as large as a multi-month campaign that helps people to reconnect with their surroundings.

The output might be pop-up events, on-site experiences, or creative storytelling through social media - but the goal is always the same: to help people feel something again.

Because when they do, performance follows. It's not always immediate, but if you build it they will come.

December is the perfect example.

It can be the most festive month on the calendar, or the loneliest. For every bustling square or lively foyer, there are dozens of underused spaces sitting in silence.

Community doesn’t just happen. It takes work. It takes intention. You don’t always need a crowd; sometimes engaging just a few people at a time moves the needle more than you’d think.

When we activate a destination, we ask questions others overlook: Who’s nearby but not engaged? What’s the emotional temperature of the place? What small interventions could spark connection and curiosity again?

This Christmas, for instance, our team is delivering events that bring that spark back: carol singing, ornament making, karaoke, community meetups. None of these are huge in scale, but they matter. They make people stop, smile, talk, feel present. That’s how re-engagement starts.

A New Mandate for Real Estate

Many social value and engagement teams have been reduced or disbanded, especially after COVID. The pressure to “do more with less” is relentless. But that doesn’t mean the mission is over.

Real estate has a quiet but crucial responsibility here: to design for connection, to curate for meaning, to measure success not just in footfall, but in feeling.

A place people care about performs better.

Engagement drives retention. Retention drives revenue. And it all starts with people feeling something real.

Bringing Places Back to Life

So if your building or campus feels a little quiet, if your tenant customers aren’t engaging, or if your social value budget’s been cut but your purpose hasn’t - let’s talk.

At RealService, we bridge the gap between insight and action. Between property and people. Between place and purpose.

Because we believe disengagement isn’t inevitable. It’s a design challenge. And the solution is bringing places — and people — back to life.

For more insights like this follow me Chenai Gondo, PhD