What Disney’s Cotino Means for Design, Development & Story

The New Frontier of Design: What Disney’s Cotino Tells Us About the Future of Community, Story, and Emotion

When Disney announced Cotino, its first master-planned community under the new Storyliving by Disney banner, the design world took notice. Not just because it’s Disney. But because it’s something new — and potentially game-changing.

Cotino isn’t just a branded community. It’s a living experiment in what happens when storytelling, emotion, and community become the raw materials of residential development.

And whether or not you’d personally live in a Disney-designed neighborhood, one thing is clear: Cotino marks a profound shift in how we think about place.

An artist’s rendering of the Artisan Club entrance, where members will experience a touch of the Disney lifestyle in clubhouse complex featuring distinct spaces for dining, wellness, art, recreation and entertainment. (Walt Disney Imagineering)

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From Structure to Story

For decades, real estate development has prioritized function, layout, and location. Even in the luxury space, the focus has often been square footage, resale value, or amenities. Design was surface — often beautiful, rarely meaningful.

Cotino suggests something different. That a neighborhood can have a narrative arc. That design can be emotionally resonant, not just visually impressive. That communities can be curated experiences, not just clusters of homes.

This is the beginning of a new era — one where developers don’t just build structures. They build worlds.

Inside of the Porsche Design Tower, Miami.

The Broader Context: A Landscape Already in Motion

The desire for deeply personal, identity-driven spaces isn’t theoretical — it’s a measurable shift. According to a recent McKinsey report, 71% of consumers expect personalized experiences, and 76% feel frustrated when those expectations aren’t met. This shift in consumer mindset is fueling an evolution in the built environment, where emotional connection and narrative are becoming design imperatives.

Cotino didn’t appear in a vacuum. It builds on — and meaningfully expands — several major real estate and lifestyle trends already shaping the built environment:

Branded Residences: From the Porsche Design Tower in Miami, where elevators lift your car into your living room, to Bulgari Residences in Dubai, developers have already been leaning into the cachet of global brands to add exclusivity and identity to living spaces.
Hospitality-Infused Living: Projects like Six Senses Residences and Soho House’s residential expansions have blurred the lines between home and boutique hotel. These communities offer programming, concierge service, and wellness experiences as part of everyday life.
Wellness and Biophilic Design: Communities like Serenbe in Georgia are structured around nature, slow living, and ecological balance. These places are less about square footage and more about intentionality and emotional wellbeing.
Themed Environments and Immersive Zones: The American Dream Mall or The Line in Saudi Arabia are extreme but telling examples of immersive design — spaces that don’t just serve function but create a world, mood, or feeling.

Cotino enters this landscape with a new proposition: what if a master-planned community wasn’t just immersive or branded, but authored — like a story with characters, arcs, and emotional tone?

Six Shifts Cotino Signals

Let’s break down what Cotino reveals about the direction of community design — and where things are headed:

1. Branded Living Becomes Emotional Living

While branded residences aren’t new, Cotino is different. It’s not about status. It’s about belonging. A curated lifestyle that taps into Disney’s emotional universe — wonder, nostalgia, comfort — and invites residents to live inside that story.

2. Experiences Trump Amenities

The next generation of homeowners doesn’t want more stuff. They want more feeling. Cotino introduces experiences that go beyond pools and gyms — think storytelling workshops, seasonal festivals, and curated programming that gives life emotional rhythm.

3. Hospitality Meets Imagination

Many luxury communities borrow from hospitality. Cotino borrows from entertainment. Residents aren’t just served — they’re invited into a kind of ongoing theater of living, with mood, pacing, and scene-setting baked into everyday life.

4. Theme Without the Tacky

Themed environments have long existed — often artificial and kitschy. Cotino reframes “theme” as emotional coherence. Every touchpoint, from landscaping to signage, is orchestrated to reinforce a feeling: warmth, playfulness, connection.

5. Master-Planned Doesn’t Mean Generic

Traditional master-planned communities often feel sterile. Cotino brings narrative, art direction, and mood to the master plan. This isn't suburbia — it’s a carefully composed emotional ecosystem.

This isn’t just about building a monumental waterfall gate or a massive clubhouse with designated rooms for bridge or arts and crafts. It’s about creating emotionally resonant spaces — places that feel alive with meaning, memory, and connection. The future of community design lies not in square footage or spectacle, but in the stories we tell, the rituals we share, and the subtle ways a space can make us feel seen.

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As design becomes immersive, community design features like monumental waterfalls might be phased out for more intentional or interactive design elements.

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6. Real Estate as Participatory Identity

Cotino invites you not just to buy a home, but to become a character in a community’s unfolding story. That’s a radically different idea — one where homes are portals into a shared, authored lifestyle.

Implications for Designers, Developers, and Builders of All Scales

One of the most important takeaways from Cotino is that this isn’t a model reserved for massive, master-planned communities alone. The principles at work — emotional resonance, storytelling, and intentional experience design — can be applied across projects of all sizes and typologies.

We’re seeing this desire for spaces that reflect personal narrative and identity across multiple sectors. Consider the rise of modern social clubs — a booming category expected to reach $25.8 billion by 2027, growing at over 11% annually. Clubs like Base and Parlor Social Club are part of this reinvention, offering not just amenities, but carefully curated, emotionally resonant ecosystems. These spaces attract people not by geography, but by shared values and storytelling. They’re small-scale proof that people crave environments that feel like they were designed for them — and with them in mind.

For developers and designers, the Cotino model signals an evolution toward a human-centered, story-focused, and strategically designed environment. Whether you're creating a boutique hotel, a residential building, or a retail concept, the opportunity lies in designing with narrative and user behavior in mind.

At More Wow, this is exactly how we operate. Our process is rooted in discovering and articulating the emotional and strategic narrative of our clients — whether they’re individuals or brands, whether we’re working on a private residence or a commercial space. We incorporate robust user research to understand how people live, move, and interact within a space — and how they want to.We use that insight to shape design that creates meaningful zones of experience — whether it’s a layered guest journey for a restaurant, a calming sequence in a wellness space, or an emotionally resonant rhythm for a home. This approach isn’t just about aesthetics — it’s about strategy, psychology, and storytelling working in harmony.

We use that insight to shape design that creates meaningful zones of experience — whether it’s a layered guest journey for a restaurant, a calming sequence in a wellness space, or an emotionally resonant rhythm for a home. This approach isn’t just about aesthetics — it’s about strategy, psychology, and storytelling working in harmony.

Design That Resonates

At More Wow, we believe design isn’t just about what looks good. It’s about what feels right. That’s why we’re watching Cotino — and the larger shift it represents — with deep interest. Because when story, emotion, and community become the foundations of space, we move from building homes to building meaning.

And that’s the kind of design that lasts.

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