I'll gift a link to this Washington Post article talking about concerns as to whether commercial building values in inner cities are (due to Covid forcing us how to do remote working) going to drop so badly that it will stuff up the economy.
This was a worry I was muttering about early in the Covid pandemic - because it was pretty remarkable how quickly everything was able to keep ticking over despite the dramatic drop in the number of people who needed to be in the inner city. And it's not as if turning office blocks into apartments or hotels is an easy thing to do in most cases.
It's a tricky thing, though, in the sense that if you're worried about transport's contribution to greenhouse gases, remote working is a great thing. Is that why John Quiggin is (I think) not worried at all about this as a major problem?
But half empty city buildings - it still feels lonely, and wrong.
Update: Anecdotal evidence, but still -
By the way, as far as Brisbane is concerned: seems to me that it might turn out to be a case of lucky timing that the inner city is having major transport and facility upgrades for the Olympics over the next decade. They should make the inner city more appealing place to visit, if not work, I would have thought?
By the way, as far as Brisbane is concerned: seems to me that it might turn out to be a case of lucky timing that the inner city is having major transport and facility upgrades for the Olympics over the next decade. They should make the inner city more appealing place to visit, if not work, I would have thought?
ReplyDeleteThat could be said for so many areas of Brisbane. Last year I finally returned to the CBD and moved through some other areas. The only real change I noticed in the burbs was many more apartment buildings.
You're right about the CBD. It is boring. There is Southbank but it needs more than that. Even visually the place looks staid.
Brisbane is in the very messy stage of substantial re-development at the moment - but we are only a couple of years away from cross river rail being finished, and Queens Wharf (yes, a casino, but at least the building is somewhat distinctive and I think designed to attract visitors other than those wanting to gamble) is supposed to open in about 7 months. (I doubt they are going to make that, somehow.)
ReplyDeleteThen you have the redevelopment happening at the old riverside area. Don't know what that will be finished.
But Brisbane does have a sort of inner city population density issue in that I reckon you can that see that as one precinct becomes popular, it draws people away from the formerly popular streets. Then that new development ages, someone redevelops another area a few streets away, and the foot traffic moves away again.
It's just that we don't seem to have the local population density to keep all streets alive.
I suppose a lot of cities are like that, though, unless you're a super city like NY, London or Tokyo. And it might even be a function of very extensive subway systems that keeps those cities buzzing, too. I mean, even in Toyko, it is possible to find relatively quiet residential streets, not far from key tourist places, but the city definitely feels very alive!