If we’re resetting society, let’s keep WFH, keep masks during winter, keep people walking around their local community, keep parents being able to drop and collect their kids.
Make it all about localism. Don’t try and save city centres and big stores, help local areas have good quality independent grocery stores and butchers/grocers (is remove business rates for these sorts of business). Make them walkable/cyclable. Make spaces for co working to happen.
Let’s get back to proper communities. We won’t have another chance like this and at the heart of both left and right wing radicalism is a yearning for community IMO.
Completely agree with this but suspect there will be a push to go back to the old ways. We had a meeting at work where we had to go round every person in the company saying if we preferred WFH or being in the office. Literally everyone said WFH was better for them. We then got a memo with instructions for a phased return to the office! Makes no sense, its not like work isn't being done productivity is up.
Of course companies will still have an office presence, nobody is suggesting getting rid of offices completely. But if we can keep huge numbers of people off roads and public transport, improving their quality of life while revitalising local areas what's the downside? I'm not seeing one. My only concern would be, as hill mentioned, that the 'poorer' areas don't get left behind in terms of local amenities.
This was it seems already a direction being pushed before covid, go on YouTube and search 15 minute cities and there's some pretty interesting stuff on there. The basic premise is everything you need should be available to you within a 15 minute journey (walk, cycle or public transport) without needing to drive miles.
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