It is easy to assume the death of the megacity as the virus rips through our nations. Density is an issue. Breathing on each other in enclosed spaces, on subway trains, in office buildings and Zumba classes. (I’ve covered much of this in previous issues of Exponential View.)
To what extent does our response to Covid-19 mark a novel departure from the trends driving the creation of the megacity?
Certainly, the commentators are in full force. My friend, Camilla Cavendish, in the Financial Times:
[M]egacities. Big urban centres are the new plague pits. New York City, America’s most crowded big city, has suffered about 23 per cent of all US deaths from the virus. [...]
In service economies, it may be cheaper for companies to operate from suburban towns. With the digital capability to work from home, people may not need to relocate to move jobs. They may prefer a house to that shoebox, with a longer commute one or two days a week.
The picture is nuanced.