Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 773

Very few of us have a mental model for the macro conditions that we are living through right now. We have been through economic downturns, but most of us haven't lived through a pandemic. I am an optimist and I know that we will get through this and normalcy will return. But one of the questions that we're all asking ourselves right now is: What will "normalcy" look like on the backend?

Here is an interesting piece of evidence for the current shutdown:

https://twitter.com/biancoresearch/status/1240793859455700992?s=20

When I see pictures of our cities, like these from Italy , I can't help but think of the life that normally plays out in the streets. The conversations. The chance encounters. And even the smells. Some of that activity has moved to every single balcony in Ital y and that is a beautiful thing. But it's no substitute for true street life. Thankfully, we know that public life will both return and prevail.

Along the way there will be changes. There are going to be winners and losers . Some companies are going to go bankrupt. And there will be adjustments that we have made that will invariably stick. Are we all going to video conference more? (The obvious one.) Will we all travel less? Will this macro event accelerate our transition to a knowledge-based digital economy? I'm sure it will. Also consider all of the new companies that are being started right at this very moment.

But as I said on Twitter today , we are social beings. That is one of the reasons why we choose to live in cities. And I am certain that isn't going away.

Photo by  Kristijan Arsov  on  Unsplash

This house was designed by the Spanish firm, Space Popular . It was completed last year in Santa Barbara, Spain. Two things, in particular, make it unique: (1) Its exposed steel structure (12x12 grid) and (2) its brick vaults. But both of these things really serve one idea. They express the building's structure. And that's about all you need for good architecture -- one clear idea. All photography by Mariela Apollonio .

Harvard economist Edward Glaeser has a new paper out talking about "urbanization and its discontents." In it, he argues that while cities today are working remarkably well for highly skilled people, they don't seem to be delivering the same upward mobility to lower skilled people. The "urban wage premium" for this segment of the population has seemingly disappeared.

The posited causes of this discontent will likely resonate with many of you:

Urban resurgence represents private sector success, and the public sector typically only catches up to urban change with a considerable lag. Moreover, as urban machines have been replaced by governments that are more accountable to empowered residents, urban governments do more to protect insiders and less to enable growth. The power of insiders can be seen in the regulatory limits on new construction and new businesses, the slow pace of school reform and the unwillingness to embrace congestion pricing.

Unfortunately, this paper isn't available for free online. If you're interested, you'll need to purchase a copy, here .