What’s going on with remote work and cities? How are things changing?

I saw a lot of people move to cheaper places once the pandemic happened. Are people choosing having a house/stability over city living? Were bars/restaurants/events/general downtown things just something people cared about since they were “forced” to be in the city anyway (either commuting there or choosing to live near work)?

We’ve been seeing workplaces start to force people back to the office for a little while now too. Is part of this to encourage spending money in the local economy?

Personally I’m hybrid and enjoy living near the downtown of my city, but I also hate being forced into the office so it had me thinking about all these questions and how these values could effectively coexist.

  •  AReliableGuySensei   ( @AReliableGuySensei@beehaw.org ) OP
    4•11 months ago

    In some cases, businesses got fat tax breaks on their campuses in exchange for the business that their workers would bring to the area, so cities are leaning on those businesses to end WFH, but that’s a band-aid of a fix if I ever saw one.

    I worry that this is the case for my office. It’s in a giant trendy building in a non-trendy (mildly sketchy) area and I think it’s on the list for gentrification. On top of this, there’s not enough housing and the area is pretty disconnected from other more populated areas. Public transit to get there is only slightly faster than walking from where I am (~40mins bus vs 1hr walk).

    I would love to see our downtown heal and build more housing, instead of trying to flip the next “up and coming” area of town.