I’m sure you’ve heard someone say that COVID-19 could be the end of the city. This is not the first time that people have made that prediction. Every technology, from the telephone to the automobile to the internet, has threatened to pull cities apart. But even if the pandemic is unlikely to kill off the city for good, clearly American cities are not going to be the same. Even in neighborhoods that don’t feel like they’re full of offices, nothing’s getting back to normal until offices open again—if offices open again.
Since March, Manhattan’s trademark 9-to-5 pulse, when the population doubles during the day and halves at night, has gone silent, as white-collar work has dissolved into homes across the country. Who in their right mind would want to go back to an office right now?
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