FutureWork podcast: Is city centre working dead?
- 3 years ago
Scotland’s town and city centres face a battle for survival after being hollowed out by long periods of pandemic shutdown.
There have been many business casualties, especially in retail, and the future shape of our city centres is likely to be very different to what we knew pre-pandemic.
In the second episode of our podcast series, The Future of Work, we speak to two experts about how our urban centres will adapt to the new working world.
Liz McAreavey, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, says the city centre has suffered disproportionately from the pandemic, with the absence of visitors having a massive negative impact on tourism, hospitality and culture - as well as retail.
Phil Prentice, Chief Officer of Scotlad’s Towns Partnership, thinks the demise of our urban areas has been greatly exaggerated.
“I think job losses are overstated,” he says. “I genuinely think as one thing closes, people have got that entrepreneurial spark and a new thing opens. I don't see unemployment spiking anywhere close to focusing in the 1980s. I think we will see a short period of disruption and people will find their way back into economic activity in a relatively short period of time.”
There have been many business casualties, especially in retail, and the future shape of our city centres is likely to be very different to what we knew pre-pandemic.
In the second episode of our podcast series, The Future of Work, we speak to two experts about how our urban centres will adapt to the new working world.
Liz McAreavey, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, says the city centre has suffered disproportionately from the pandemic, with the absence of visitors having a massive negative impact on tourism, hospitality and culture - as well as retail.
Phil Prentice, Chief Officer of Scotlad’s Towns Partnership, thinks the demise of our urban areas has been greatly exaggerated.
“I think job losses are overstated,” he says. “I genuinely think as one thing closes, people have got that entrepreneurial spark and a new thing opens. I don't see unemployment spiking anywhere close to focusing in the 1980s. I think we will see a short period of disruption and people will find their way back into economic activity in a relatively short period of time.”