Remote work is gutting downtowns
businessinsider.com
Remote work is gutting downtowns
1–10 of 262 posts
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#2[deleted]
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#3These seeds were sowed when cities cashed in on commercial real estate, pushing residential zoning further and further out of the city. Wake up call: nobody wants to spend longer than they have to on an unpaid, unpredictable commute into the city anymore. So while these downtown businesses are getting 1/3 of the foot traffic that they used to, all the supermarkets and shops a few miles down the road are raking it in.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#4These seeds were sowed when cities cashed in on commercial real estate, pushing residential zoning further and further out of the city. Wake up call: nobody wants to spend longer than they have to on an unpaid, unpredictable commute into the city anymore. So while these downtown businesses are getting 1/3 of the foot traffic that they used to, all the supermarkets and shops a few miles down the road are raking it in.
Right. The value has not been lost. It has been shifted. It happens.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#5Title slightly misleading... The article makes the point that downtowns are turning from office to social centres and the $453B figure is more of an investment in repurposing offices and rethinking urban spaces for that purpose.
I welcome these changes... Yes we'll need to rethink our urbanism, but if anything this switch feels like a coming back of what our urban centers are supposed to provide us.
Imagine parking spaces becoming local artisans/food stalls, conference rooms becoming event spaces, coworking spaces adapted to people's lifestyle and living patterns (e.g. a suburban cowork with childcare and a dog park).
"gutting downtown" might be true for those who are wary their office real estate investment will not have a positive ROI. But the way I see it, this change in urban patterns is a paradigm shift in wealth distribution patterns and in economic opportunities for leisure services, both locally and globally.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#6Good. Feel the "hand of the free market" at last throttling the antiquated obese market that is business property.
As automation and communication improves, so should corporate policy restructure and reform into the most efficient system. Dragging people across the country every day and filling the air with burnt dinosaur just because the old people in power can't figure out how to adapt is pathetic.
New management styles are needed that incentivise the timekeeping of results over the timekeeping of presence.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#7So, what is the solution? Force everyone back into the pointless office at enormous cost to employees and employers just to keep the status quo for landlords. The bottom line is downtown is a place where people work with information. Since it is possible to work with information anywhere, this place isn't needed (and hasn't been for a long time). Downtown obsolete.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#8Sucks for downtown's but I'm glad to see anything that leads to a broader distribution of population.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#9Waiting for a major strategy consulting firm to advice corporate boards on the benefits of hybrid or remote working use cases, and adoption. Firm I work with have some teams at 4 days and others at 2 days a week. It is always team meetings at the office + long lunch breaks
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#10That $453B had been greedily seized by the real estate owners, often by inheritance. Good that a portion is being released to some of the workers, who no longer pay exorbitant fees.