Well, it is a comment, and the model is useful like most to spur thought rather than actually explain! My issue with cities is that they followed the economy, became super concentrated in what they had (finance, insurance, consulting) and thus were boring. The agglomeration benefits disappeared because people were in massive organisations with their own culture. They were part of that subatomic structure. But then Covid split the atom. Big floor plates are not needed as much. People can socialise differently and not be a corporate particle exclusively. It is slowly lowering rents, first through sub-lets for more suitable spaces, but also vacancies that must be filled to avoid areas looking empty. And so agglomeration might be back baby, we might actually have small enterprises rubbing shoulders and sparking (can particles spark? I'm no physicist). This then means that a city can again be a complex organism, beyond the subatomic level, and can evolve (I think I jumped to biology). Still, good starting point! Cities shouldn't be only for those that have made it is my main contention...
Well, it is a comment, and the model is useful like most to spur thought rather than actually explain! My issue with cities is that they followed the economy, became super concentrated in what they had (finance, insurance, consulting) and thus were boring. The agglomeration benefits disappeared because people were in massive organisations with their own culture. They were part of that subatomic structure. But then Covid split the atom. Big floor plates are not needed as much. People can socialise differently and not be a corporate particle exclusively. It is slowly lowering rents, first through sub-lets for more suitable spaces, but also vacancies that must be filled to avoid areas looking empty. And so agglomeration might be back baby, we might actually have small enterprises rubbing shoulders and sparking (can particles spark? I'm no physicist). This then means that a city can again be a complex organism, beyond the subatomic level, and can evolve (I think I jumped to biology). Still, good starting point! Cities shouldn't be only for those that have made it is my main contention...
Are you pretty sure that rents are going down in large cities!? It seems that you are generalizing too much here
Only from what I have seen in a couple of cities, for sub-lets and unlet spaces. It is just the beginning. Not for resi, of course!
Hyperloop will have fixed it by year 2100, just needs a bit of investment