Can a return to the office contribute to fixing the night time economy and the mental health crisis?
For generations, long-lasting friendships were formed at university and then too in the workplace on graduate programmes. Communities of young adults have coalesced in higher education and the workplace, studying and working during the day and socialising together in the evening and night time. Covid lockdowns brought this to an abrupt halt.
London’s economy, while comparatively successful in the post-Covid era, still has significant sectoral challenges, in particular the evening and night time economy and the office sector. Property market analysts are forecasting a further rise in office vacancy rates by the end of 2024 in key global cities, including London and New York. A successful response of the office sector has been the flight to create quality spaces that are a pleasure to work in, although this alone has not been a sufficient recovery strategy.
In parallel, London’s evening and night time economy has suffered the loss of over a thousand venues in less than ten years, affecting jobs and the vibrancy and appeal of London.
For Gen Z, years of studying and working from home, often in cramped single or multi-occupancy apartments that are not designed and furnished to also be workspaces, has contributed to prolonged isolation, loneliness and withering away of existing friendship groups; and missed opportunity to make new friends. The mental health epidemic, in particular social anxiety, which came as an unforeseen tsunami following the Covid pandemic, risks becoming entrenched.
Quite simply by returning to a pattern of working together more regularly in a place, both the office sector and the evening and night time economies can benefit from a stronger market, triggering recovery. Importantly, this way cities can also address the mental health crisis affecting a generation of young people and become healthier places to live.
Dan Johnson is one of the Founders of Attis, which identifies and tackles the factors that prevent places from realising their full potential. As a team of experts with diverse backgrounds, Attis collaborates to unlock vitality for places and their communities.