There are some who think  that things will go back to normal as soon as there will be a vaccine very soon. Some even consider the pandemic to be a hoax. People with those convictions certainly don't think that architecture or cities will change. They can point to the countries that have managed the pandemic well and returned to a fairly normal life after a few months.

How long can restaurants take it?

Then there are those who think that COVID-19 is a great threat, that it won't be over soon, even after a vaccine may have been approved. Those folks believe that the pandemic will have some lasting impact on the way people work, have vacations and shop and that those adaptations  will alter the built environment in radical ways. Some even argue that a return to "normal" wouldn't be desirable, since society was broken to begin with and that COVID just magnified existing issues and should be seen as an opportunity to set the course right.

Who is correct? As I have described in my earlier article, an end to the pandemic won't be sudden, nor will it be soon.

With longer lasting extraneous circumstances, people's inertia could go both ways: It could mean a quick return to deeply ingrained pre-COVID habits as soon as circumstances allow it, but it could also mean that people had enough time to get used to "the new normal" and want to stick with it. Already the NYT is reporting a wave of people feeling New York City for the suburbs. Lots of surveys are trying to find out what people really want and come up with a wide range of results, especially when it comes to people's preferences regarding remote work from home.

The abandoned office in 2020

Aside from people's preferences, the economic impact alone could be enduring. The financial crisis took some 12 years to overcome and some impacts can still be felt. But memory is short and already we see ....