Report explores long-term impact of COVID-19 on city downtowns

Reduced traffic in city downtowns from a long-term shift to telecommuting will reduce city tax revenues, but also give cities an opportunity to consider new uses for their downtown areas, according to a new analysis released by the Rockefeller Institute of Government on Nov. 10.

The analysis posits that the shift to telework that was accelerated by COVID-19 may persist after the pandemic has passed, posing fiscal challenges to cities that traditionally relied on a daily influx of workers into their downtown districts.

The Rockefeller Institute states that just over 22 percent of employed workers telecommute and survey data suggests that many will want some sort of remote-work option going forward, due to shifts in attitudes about working from home.

“Before the pandemic, remote workers were a modest but growing portion of the workforce,” said Laura Schultz, executive director of research at the Rockefeller Institute. “This new research shows how dramatic the growth of remote work has been in response to the pandemic, what the downstream effects on cities may be, and how cities may innovate in the face of these challenges.”

A release summarizing the analysis states, “As economic dynamics shift in downtown areas, ideas like converting downtown office space into affordable housing or replacing parking spaces in favor of bike lanes may become more palatable to building owners, developers, and city residents.”

The Rockefeller Institute of Government is the public-policy research arm of the State University of New York. The full analysis is available online at https://rockinst.org/blog/covid-19-and-working-from-home-give-cities-a-chance-to-redefine-who-uses-downtowns/