Designing for Behavior Change, 2nd Edition

Chapter 16. The State of the Field

The common spaces are flooded with light and greenery, following behavioral research on well-being. The apartments empower their residents to control their layout and reconfigure them as their needs change. There’s a single switch by the bed that turns off all of the appliances and electronics at once—removing friction and decision points. The shower heads light up after five minutes to remind users of the costs to themselves and the environment. Welcome to the “Paris Nudge Building,” the Bains Douches Castagnary.

In 2015, Paris’s Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced a new architectural competition to help “Reinvent Paris,” looking for “innovative urban projects to build what the Paris of tomorrow might be.”¹ The BVA Nudge Unit partnered with French real-estate firm OGIC, sustainable development firm e-Green, and others to apply behavioral research to redesign an existing apartment building, the Bains Douches Castagnary.

To design the building, the team drew on a growing body of work on behavioral science and the built environment: how architecture influences our well-being, emotions, and behavior. They interviewed residents of the area to better understand what was important to them—such as being in community, and respecting the environment—and how they sometimes struggled to fulfill these goals. They then designed, field tested, and ultimately implemented these ideas throughout the building.

In 2019, residents started moving in, and the team is measuring ...