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“Several years ago, when I presented a lecture on real estate wellness at the Global Wellness Summit in Marrakech, I was the only developer there,” says Steve Nygren, who broke ground on Serenbe, a healthy lifestyle-community on the edge of metro Atlanta, in 2004. “Almost a decade later, we spent a day at the summit focused on this topic. We’ve come so far now that there’s an understanding that nature- connected biophilic design is a big priority for home buyers.”

Today, 1,200 people, including 300 school-age children, live in Serenbe, a destination set among acres of preserved forest and meadows that boasts several dozen restaurants, arts events, a full-service spa, and an inn for guests.

And, while some have called Serenbe a cult, Nygren is all for it.

“If happiness is a cult then fine,” he says with a laugh. “Very few people who live here came to buy real estate. They came for a conference, they came to see friends, they saw people waving to each other and being happy—and then they stayed.”