Some downtowns in American cities are shells of their former selves. The University of Toronto School of Cities collects data on cell phone usage compared to 2019 in North American cities. According to their data, Salt Lake City has never been more active. It has more than recovered in terms of crowds. But downtown San Francisco is at only 31% of its former activity. Big tech cities, like San Francisco and Austin appear to have lost the most traffic, because of crime and the tech sector tends to have more liberal work-from-home policies. New York, which has more economic diversity is at 75% compared to 2019. Even cities that had lots of population growth still have less cell phone usage in their downtowns, like Austin or Nashville. Three years out, downtowns in cities may never be the same.
Source: School Of Cities
Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow her on Twitter here.
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