Summary of my comment on corona and cities in today's @FT. News of death of big cities exaggerated. Cities remain uniquely efficient, sustainable & creative. Contagion is, like pollution and congestion, downside of city life, but with good leadership and policy, can be managed.

And it's not all bad news. First, frequent face to face interaction will remain essential to most successful orgs, but we don't need to meet everyday. Increase in remote working can relieve pressures on workers, transport and environment and support local economies.

Decrease in public transport capacity will mean we have to rely on road network - but no room in most cities for more cars so we will have to reallocate space to bike and e-bikes, creating greener and healthier cities

Corona a big boost for digital tech and enterprise - but these tend to be centred in cities. Some supply chains could shrink but digitalisation could mean others will get longer - benefitting global cities especially (thou with worrying implications for inequality)

Older people might be tempted to move out, but there is no shortage of younger people who will be happy to take their place. Far from dying, our cities are likely to get younger and more creative.

All this depends on cities having strong leadership with adequate fiscal and other powers and support of national government.