Earlier quoted context omitted.
Walkable cities with mixed use development. Change the use of downtown.
To what?
Walkable cities with mixed use development.
Remote work is gutting downtowns
41–50 of 262 posts
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#42These 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.
Yeah—the stores in our area (which is a bedroom community for Baltimore and to a lesser extent DC) are doing great.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#43These 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.
Carr's "The Big Switch" in reverse. Technology ushering in a decentralization effect. And that's fine. Work at home. Communities buy micro reactors, Starlink ready to go. Low carbon produce that doesn't have chemical shit all over it. Maybe testosterone rates go up, maybe cancer rates go down. Probably a good idea all around.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#44Given a choice, a lot of people would rather not just fork over a large percentage of their take home pay to the landlords of downtowns. Those landlords have been driving the zoning policies for decades in their favor. Now things are just a tiny bit less in their favor. They kept the status quo for a very long time and made a lot of money doing so. Now things are changing. Good.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#45These 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.
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Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#46Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#47A bit off topic; I of course understand that I'm an odd situation and not representative of the broader trend at play here... But moving into remote work inspired my partner and I to move into Manhattan from the sprawling car driven nightmare that was Phoenix. Tiny little studio, but we've never been particularly materialistic, a murphy bed massively opens up the space, and no office to go into means once the day is…
I see a LOT of people moving to NYC for this reason. Not Midtown or the Financial District, mind you - the UES, UWS, Williamsburg, etc. I did it. I don't commute but am so much happier here than with more space in suburbia.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#48Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#49Sucks for downtown's but I'm glad to see anything that leads to a broader distribution of population.
This. And I would say the broader distribution will actually be good for the environment as whole. Or at least it could be.
More roads, sewer pipes, power lines, distribution networks, more cars, more power for bigger homes.
I think you have this reversed.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#50So, 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.
There is no need to "solve" every change.
In fact, there's a need to roll with every change and use the opportunity to improve. We can repurpose old office towers for housing - Houston does it all the time. We can narrow streets that don't see daily commuter crushes - we can use this opportunity to build a better world.