Grammy award-winner Petula Clark famously sang that the “lights are much brighter” downtown, but the coronavirus pandemic may change city centres across the world, as more people choose to work remotely and companies ditch large office towers. With more than 6.3 million people reported infected globally, lockdowns to stem the spread of the respiratory disease in major cities have forced millions to work from home. Many may never go back to working full-time in offices.
Twitter has said some of its employees can work from home “forever”, while Google and Facebook employees can work remotely until next year. Big banks have indicated they may not fully occupy their office towers in London and Manhattan. More than two-thirds of the global population is forecast to live in urban areas by 2050 – up from 56% today, according to the United Nations. Past epidemics led to massive changes in city planning and infrastructure, including sewage systems and public transit, as well as housing regulations.
With the coronavirus, cities from Amsterdam to Sydney have unveiled measures to improve sustainability, food security and mobility, with more green spaces, wider pavements, bicycle lanes and new technologies to ensure social distancing. City centres are key economic hubs, with their mix of offices, shops, restaurants, bars, entertainment centres and residences. They are generally well connected by transit systems, and command some of the highest real estate values.Remote working was already on the rise in many parts of the world before the pandemic. Now, as firms grapple with social distancing rules that limit how many workers can return, they are thinking about what their offices are really for.
That would mean less traffic and fewer people taking public transport at peak hours, which may lead to more mixed-use developments and amenities to draw footfall, said Hsu. More people working from home “will have a detrimental economic impact on the city,” said Anjali Mahendra, director of research at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. With more people using a combination of walking, biking and public transit, “investing in bicycle, pedestrian and micromobility infrastructure can fill essential gaps in last-mile access to public transit now and in the future,” she said.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
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