[thegoatman]

Originally Posted by twister244

I can see the arguments for getting back into the office, but the reality is, the pandemic has proven companies can thrive without having people come into the office.....

No way anyone is going in five days a week anymore. I flew out to Colorado for a week back in July just to get some in-person time with a few folks. And honestly, I don't feel I got much out of it. Our company is so damn spread out now with employees from Tel Aviv to San Diego, there's just no reason for me to be tied down to any city just to go into an office one or two days a week. If that in-person working is absolutely needed, then fly me out a couple weeks a quarter, or a month a year. I have no problems with that, but I don't expect any company to mandate I uproot my life to move somewhere I don't want to be based out of. There's plenty of ways you can get the best of both worlds still while still being mostly remote. And if you hate working from home, get a WeWork global access pass.

I definitely see parts of downtown, like the loop, getting hurt from this. But, across various neighborhoods, I don't see the harm. People love to be in the city within walking distance to everything they need. If anything, I see working from home increasing the desire to be closer to that, as opposed to the suburbs where you have to hop in the car to go anywhere. But maybe I'm just an overly optimistic urbanist.

Thirdly, you should never rely on work to build out a social network. They are your co-workers, not your friends. You should absolutely get along with them, but don't rely on them. Again, I go to WeWork and get great social interactions with folks there, and they aren't my co-workers, which makes it even more fun because there aren't really rules. There's professional networking events and groups you can easily be a part of to meet folks and build out social networks that way.

Anyways..... The point is I think permanent remote work may hurt core parts of downtown, but I don't see it hurting the city overall.

Yes it is. The suburbs are now more expensive than the city, that wasn't the case pre-2020. If all these companies go permanent remote work, it's going to kill foot traffic and vibrancy. Y'all sound way too optimistic here...