The Daily Yonder Analysis: Has the Pandemic Changed Cities Forever? During the pandemic, people with high-wage, knowledge-based jobs are more likely than lower-wage workers to have stopped commuting into major downtowns. As the economy reopens, will they return?
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The 14th Street corridor in Logan Circle in Washington, D.C. Nation s capital is famous for its commuter population. With over 670,000 people employed in the District, only around 28% commutes to work from within the city. (Photo by Ted Eytan/FLICKR)
The article is excerpted from Economic Focus, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Throughout American history, people have moved from farms and small towns to seek their fortunes in the big city. The story of the last century has been one of increasing urbanization. As of 2018, 86% of Americans lived in cities or surrounding suburbs, and large cities accounted for a similar share of total U.S. economic output. It wouldn’t be a stret
In a recent address to the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, Richard Florida laid out his vision for how central business districts can bounce back from economic setbacks caused by the pandemic and efforts to control it through lockdowns and restrictions on public gatherings.
Despite what the naysayers warn about an urban exodus, “this is not the end of cities,” Florida said in a virtual talk to business and civic leaders. “I have no doubt that our cities and our downtowns will come back.”
But because of the health crisis and other forces, including the Black Lives Matter movement, it won’t be enough for cities simply to return to the way things used to be, he added.
What inspired digital nomads to flee America s big cities may spur legions of remote workers to do the same
Rachael A. Woldoff, West Virginia University and Robert Litchfield, Washington & Jefferson College
Posted On
08 May 2021
When the pandemic forced office employees into lockdown and cut them off from spending in-person time with their colleagues, they almost immediately realized that they favor remote work over their traditional office routines and norms.
Even before the pandemic, there were people asking whether office life jibed with their aspirations.
We spent years studying “digital nomads” – workers who had left behind their homes, cities and most of their possessions to embark on what they call “location independent” lives. Our research taught us several important lessons about the conditions that push workers away from offices and major metropolitan areas, pulling them toward new lifestyles.
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Indian River and St. Lucie were among Florida s top 10 counties for percentage increase in population growth during the initial year of the coronavirus pandemic, according to recently released data.
Using U.S. Census and Postal Service information, Bloomberg CityLab studied statistics of people moving in versus those moving out for metro areas between March 2020 and February 2021. It then compared results to the previous year.
Communities had to have had at least 1,000 move-ins and 1,000 move-outs during both years for consideration in the CityLab analysis, which was released last week.
Indian River County ranked fourth among Florida s 67 counties, with a 9% rise in inflow/outflow ratios. St. Lucie County was ninth, at 6.2%.
SHARES Shoulder to shoulder during rush hour in Toronto in October 2020. Long commutes on crowded public transit that increase the spread of COVID-19 result from failed housing policies, writes UBC professor of urban design Patrick Condon.
Photo by Nathan Denette, the Canadian Press.
Sick City: Disease, Race, Inequality and Urban Land
Patrick Condon
Creative Commons (2021)
Patrick Condon looks at those hit hardest by the pandemic and concludes, as have many others, that COVID-19 has starkly exposed and exploited inequalities in our society. Essential workers, many of them immigrants, risking their health often for minimum wage, are bearing the brunt. And their exposure to the virus puts others at risk, most dramatically the elderly in long-term care.