Will Montreal lose out to the regions?
Radio-Canada has quite a long and discursive piece in discussion with a series of urbanism and sociology professors about the future of Montreal, in particular vs. the regions, as things evolve to face the challenge of Covid.
It begins to filter through as you read that no amount of expertise enables someone to foresee how the city will look in 5, 10, 20 years: will downtown rebound, will there really be more foci of urban activity, as suggested by one, or just lots of distributed teleworking/coworking centres, as another proposes? Will the regions flourish as Montreal declines? Will other, unpredictable factors come into play?
“Six mois dans l’histoire d’une ville, c’est quand même quelque chose d’assez court” as one of the experts says, although another thinks “On va revenir à une économie où les rencontres, les dîners d’affaires, se serrer la main, se regarder, vont revenir comme avant” and I’m not sure we can rely on that. Major crises tend to effect permanent changes that only become clear in retrospect.
I’m going to be a pain in the ass here and note that all the experts in this story are white males. Since the writer doesn’t have a souchy sort of name, I can’t clobber him on the ethnicity side, but I’d have enjoyed reading about what one or two women experts thought as well.
DeWolf 13:00 on 2020-09-26 Permalink
I think there was an important point made in the Norman Foster op-ed that Meezly links to above: “Covid-19 will hasten existing trends [but] will not create new trend.”
It’s also worth looking back through history at the many pandemics and epidemics that have taken place before. As a species we have never been healthier than we are today; a century ago we would have all been more likely to die from a disease far more horrific than Covid. The bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid, polio, the Spanish flu – all of these killed millions, sometimes all at once, and yet as soon as the worst was over, people continued shaking hands, hugging, going out to restaurants and drinking in pubs, just as they had done for centuries. The way they did those things may have changed, and the context in which they did them was altered, but there are some human behaviours that are so deeply rooted I don’t think they will ever go away.
Chris 13:56 on 2020-09-26 Permalink
For centuries human have been moving into cities, because we are social, and because ideas are best exchanged by groups being together. This won’t change.
Mark Côté 14:53 on 2020-09-26 Permalink
Except that it has changed in the past. In 1850 15% of the US population lived in an urban environment. Now it’s above 80%. This was driven mainly by changes in economics, with more jobs being created in the city. If covid-19 fundamentally changes the perception of offices, it has removed one of the drivers for urban living. I’m not saying that we’ll all end up in the countryside, but smaller towns may become more appealing if there’s only a requirement to be physically present in an office every few weeks or less.
Kate 11:45 on 2020-09-27 Permalink
People may also have noticed how much time is wasted in offices – pointless meetings, chatting around the water cooler, little birthday parties for people, all the bullshit jobs basically. People can probably get the actual work done at home, far more efficiently, without this stuff.
Michael Black 11:52 on 2020-09-27 Permalink
That’s what they say about home schooling. Actual learning can take place pretty fast, but it’s slowed down by the classroom.
We’re talking John Holt type homeschooling, not “keep kids at home for religious or conservative reasons”.