CityLab Daily: What’s a Business District Without All the Business?

Starting today, the Thursday edition of the CityLab Daily newsletter will focus on the changing nature of work — and the repercussions for the places and spaces we inhabit. Send your feedback and ideas to citylab@bloomberg.net.

Central business districts are having an identity crisis. With more ambitious return-to-office schedules stymied by this summer’s delta surge, white-collar workers have been slow to reappear in the core downtown neighborhoods of cities like San Francisco, Singapore and Sydney. This continued absence of foot traffic has prolonged the pain for the lunch places, coffee shops and happy hour locales that depended on their business before the pandemic. And it’s left work-centric neighborhoods that occupy some of cities' most prime real estate jarringly … quiet.