Page 16 - Delaware Lawyer - Summer 2021

FEATURE
Post-COVID
Richard Voith
Delaware Life
Will our cities, towns and rural areas see lasting change?
The remarkably successful development of highly effective vaccines is allowing the return to “normal.” But how will the “new normal” be different? How will it be different across communities? There is very little consensus about these questions, in part because we are just emerging from COVID, and we are all still adjusting.
One thing is clear: more than ever, people and firms are re-evaluating where they live and work. The
choices they make will have a major im- pact on the future shape of our commu- nities. The policies we chose will shape the location decisions that are made.
Even before the pandemic, digital technologies supporting online re- tail, virtual meetings, delivery, logis- tics, ride-sharing and car-sharing were available, well-developed and chang- ing the economic landscape. With the notable exceptions of ride-sharing and car-sharing, the pandemic dramatically accelerated the acceptance of these technologies and expanded the indus- tries they supported. Health risks, un- certainty and government restrictions resulted in a boom in online retail,
product delivery and development of telemedicine. Business survival and the need to earn a living led to widespread use of virtual meetings. These changes have had serious impacts on many sec- tors of the economy.
Retail, Real Estate and Travel
The adoption of online retail and vir- tual technologies has had negative im- pacts on bricks-and-mortar retail, com- mercial real estate and public transit. Fewer people commuting to work has reduced the foot traffic that supports traditional retail and fills buses. These forces have, in turn, affected real estate values.
Recent research has found that dense, transit-dependent U.S. cities have suf- fered declines of approximately 18% in
14 DELAWARE LAWYER SUMMER 2021