In GeekWire, Chuck Wolfe explains how, as the Amazon (and other) “Great Returns” to the office unfold, it's essential to dig deeper.
Wolfe urges a deep dive beyond quick fixes to assure sustained urban vitality:
The trick will be to assess the ideals that the quick fixes are meant to guarantee and restore, which are, essentially, the first principles of cities. These principles include time-immemorial concepts: safety, the basic connectors between people and where they work, the importance of hubs of culture and human interaction, and the co-creation necessary to keep these Great Returns alive.
The article provides five ideas that focus on long-term regeneration, including safe places and spaces; contextually appropriate tools; looking beyond two dimensions; recognizing cities as evolving, interdisciplinary systems; and proceeding with “place healing” based on inclusionary principles.
FULL STORY: Analysis: Amazon’s ‘Great Return’ to the office is just one aspect of a downtown Seattle comeback
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