By Our Staff Writer
The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) said their fifth annual Wellness Real Estate and Communities symposium will take place on May 12, 2026 in New York City.
The conference brings together leaders in real estate, investment, architecture, design, hospitality, public policy, technology, medicine and sustainability to discuss how health and wellness will transform the built environment in the future.
The 2026 theme, “Real Estate through a Wellness Lens,” captures how this year’s agenda will go deeper and wider than ever before, exploring not only luxury projects, but how wellness design is remaking affordable homes, whole communities and cities, workplaces, hospitals, senior living, hospitality destinations, retail spaces, and more, GWS said.
The event will figure Ivy Ross, Google’s design guru, and Susan Magsamen, a leading researcher on neuroscience and the arts, having a keynote conversation on “The Science of Art in the Built Environment, while Joseph Allen, one of the world’s top experts on healthy buildings, discussing the new JPMorganChase building in Manhattan, designed by Norman Foster and a monument to new ideas in wellness real estate, and explain how AI can be used to create much healthier buildings.
There will also be a dedicated panel of developers creating new longevity residences. Susie Ellis, GWS chair and CEO, will present a “Global Glimpse” of dozens of the most eye-opening wellness real estate projects underway around the world.
Global Wellness Institute researchers will unveil “Build Well to Live Well: Case Studies, Volume 2,” showcasing some of the most exciting, ambitious and impactful wellness real estate projects in the Middle East. the world’s fastest-growing market. Drawing from their recent visits to the Saudi Arabia Red Sea Coast, Riyadh, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, these case studies will demonstrate how wellness real estate projects can be implemented on the largest scale, integrating human health with sustainability, inclusivity, accessibility, economic development and cultural relevance. The GWI, in a major, ongoing partnership with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics, will unveil a design challenge centered on neuroscience at the event.
