The new economics of global cities
Economic DevelopmentSummary
As cities prepare for economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is now recognized that it may be more complicated than expected. Prior to the pandemic, economic and cultural activity was booming in concentrated cores of large cities. However, when the pandemic arrived, more people began to shift to the peripheries of large cities, or to other surrounding areas, in fear of catching the virus. While this shift appeared to be temporary at first, it now may be more permanent. Now economic activity is slowly spreading outwards from urban cores. There is now a debate, “on whether the spreading out of economic activity is welcome.” Economists such as Lukas Althoff from Princeton University, have other long-term concerns such as less employment for low-wage workers due to emptier offices and the second is productivity levels. However, “economies have been extraordinarily quick to reallocate jobs away from struggling city centres to places with more demand” and it is difficult to predict whether this shift from urban cores will affect productivity.