The death of downtowns - how the pandemic changed cities forever

A University of California Berkley study showed that the pandemic might have killed downtowns. Many city centers struggle to recover foot traffic three years after the lockdown.

A very known example of this problem is San Francisco. The city's downtown has a crime problem and is the image of the homeless crisis in America since it was emptied of all the tech workers that used to fill it.

However, San Francisco is one of many cities with nearly empty downtowns. Service businesses that used to cater to the workers who walked there daily are now struggling.

The study used cellphone data from the late fall of 2022 (the last one available) to track the activity in the center of 62 cities in the US and Canada.

The researchers found that the cities suffering the most from this issue are on the West Coast and Canada.

A big part of the problem is that remote work has become a permanent arrangement for employees, keeping them in cheaper suburbs.

That is especially true for tech jobs that cached a significant part of the Weast Coast American cities market.

Philadelphia is last among the ten cities with the worst recovery data. Its downtown has 47% of the foot traffic it had in 2019.

Vancouver is next with the same percentage. According to research by PwC, it may be affected because it has the highest ratio of stores and restaurants per 1,000 workers among Canadian cities.

Another Canadian city comes next: Montreal. It recovered 46% of its foot traffic before the pandemic. PwC believes that commuting time could deter workers from returning.

Seattle comes next with 44% foot traffic in the city center, with many employees still choosing remote work and avoiding a return to their offices.

The Canadian city of Calgary has only recovered 43% of its daily downtown visitors. PwC said it is also at risk of being affected by a downward valuation of commercial and office space.

Image: Kyler Nixon / Unsplash

Indianapolis has only recovered 38% of its foot traffic in the city center. It is in third place among the cities with the worst data.

Right below San Francisco, Portland holds second place, with its recovery at 37%. The city is also struggling with homelessness and addiction issues downtown.

According to CBS, cities like Seattle are working on creative strategies to solve the issue and help downtown businesses stay open.

To do so, they will address two main problems: the first one is affordable housing. Many workers left during the pandemic because downtowns have high real estate prices.

The second problem is security. Good examples of this are San Francisco and Portland, with the worst recovery. Both cities have issues with homeless settlements and addiction.