Are ambient smart environments sufficient for developing good habits?

Ambient smart environments (ASEs) have been proposed as technologically enriched spacescapable of supporting adaptive behaviour and healthier habits (Aydin et al., 2019; Hipólito etal., 2023; White & Hipólito, 2023; White & Miller, 2023; White et al., 2024; Verbeek, 2009).Proponents suggest that ASEs effectively disrupt maladaptive habitual behaviours byintroducing optimal levels of uncertainty, implicitly guiding users towards healthier patternsof thinking and acting without requiring deliberate reflection. However, we argue that theseapproaches risk overlooking the conditions necessary for the consolidation of moresustainable and beneficial habits. In particular, we suggest that such habits requiremotivational engagement, effortful interaction, and opportunities for long-term behaviouralreinforcement. To address this gap, we propose that ASE interventions must becomplemented by more stable, deliberately structured, design-centred environments (DEs),which provide consistent affordances that explicitly invite reflective, intrinsically motivatedinteractions. We emphasise how these hybrid environments scaffold learning and feedbackprocesses, and enable agents to progressively refine their engagement with affordancesthrough experience and reflection. Finally, we discuss the broader philosophical and ethicalimplications, highlighting how hybrid environments mitigate the risks of techno-paternalismand actively support adaptive autonomy, reflective control, and meaningful behaviouralchange.