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Originally Posted by whatnext
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I'm hopeful that this will turn out to have been a positive moment for worker's rights and social economic policy both here & around the world. Without overstating the importance of this as some sort of watershed moment for all of my pet causes, I think people are becoming a lot more comfortable with and cognizant of the importance of a robust welfare state (up to and eventually including UBI) and well-funded public services like healthcare. Likewise, more flexible hours and work-from-home options seem to be a given at this point.
And maybe, just maybe - with so many people able to spend more time at home with their families, or working on their hobbies, not having to get up and fight through stressful traffic to get to work, fewer responsibilities, and the general "slowdown" of life; maybe as a society we'll finally start to give a little bit of a rethink to the central role that work plays in our lives and the often toxic, stress-inducing culture of work and consumerism that we're forced to endure. Not gonna count on that one though.
Just having a bit of fun with this here now - but there are still some other positive outcomes we could see as well (from a local perspective):
- A lot more attention is being paid to the state of living conditions in long term care facilities and other group homes; which should result in some improvements moving forward.
- More space in our cities is being taken from underused roads and given to pedestrian spaces, bike lanes, and outdoor patios. Hopefully at least some of these will be made permanent post pandemic.
- People are more health consciousness now, which aside from staying home when sick could also result in the lasting normalization of wearing masks in public when sick.
Of course, can't gloss over the many potential longer-term negative impacts either:
- Many small businesses have already closed, and many more will soon. A lot of the character-defining places of our cities will be replaced by vacant storefronts, while the major chains that are more well-equipped to weather this will make up an even larger share of the market than they do already. On the flipside, this could depress commercial rent prices and we'll see a boom of creative new entrepreneurs take over those spaces in the coming years.
- Transit agencies have been hit hard by declining ridership, and this is likely to persist until if and when a vaccine is ready. We could be in for several years of reduced service, which will hurt ridership and lead to more cars on the road in their place. And with ridership down and government finances in a mess, this may also lead to the cancellation of proposed projects.
- While the hospitality & tourism industries have been hit hard, there's at least some hope for them on the horizon. The nightlife industry on the other hand will be completely decimated by this. It's already been facing mounting pressure due to redevelopment, gentrification, and unfavourable bylaws; but with an indefinite future of being shut, I can't really see any nightclub-type establishments surviving this. Taken together with the above two, our cities might not be as lively and exciting as they once were.
- This one's up in the air - but with the months of social distancing, are we all going to forget how to interact with fellow humans and be weird and socially awkward once things return to normal; or are we going to miss real, meaningful interaction and there'll be a big boom in social activity? I dunno.
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Good points above. You've successfully convinced me that that's the better approach!
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