From Tokyo to New York: What the future cities of work look like

Amongst the fraught arguments on post-pandemic work flexibility is an underlying fear. What will happen to our cities if workers only go to the office a few days a week? Humans have flocked to cities for centuries prior to the industrial age birth of the modern office tower.

“A great city is an inventory of the possible.” wrote Rene Descartes in the 17th century.

A city is a place where the ability to create a range of different futures for ourselves is made manifest. But a city that consists largely of closed-off office buildings broken up by chain food outlets is unlikely to fulfill Descartes’ ambition.