UTTRI associated faculty Professor Richard Florida says that the pandemic experience is changing perceptions about the separation of business and residential districts.
“The idea of a 15-minute neighborhood, or what I like to call a complete community, is a community where more-or-less you could do all of your daily activities.”
“This has been the real reset in the pandemic, is that more and more people realize they want that.”
Florida says that where we work has undergone a much bigger change during the pandemic than where we live. The experience of remote work has opened up possibilities. Fear of COVID exposure on public transit also factors in.
“The office towers aren’t filling,” said Florida, and that’s particularly true right now for cities with central business districts that are typically and traditionally accessed by public transit. “People aren’t scared of the elevator, they’re scared of the train or transit to get there.”
Read “Creative Class author touts Triangle for more growth in rise of ’15-minute neighborhoods’,” WRAL TechWire, May 4, 2021.