Cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco rely on a downtown office core in the same way. Deindustrialization was a total body blow to America's big cities 50 years ago. Many cities that recovered by largely swapping out manufacturing for another kind of work: office jobs. This upswing started in 90s until COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Pandemic restrictions are mostly over, but cities are still struggling to recover. Empty offices threaten to set off a downward spiral of falling tax revenue and declining services. Today, Explained’s Miles Bryan tries to stop the doom loop before it starts.
This episode was reported and produced by Miles Bryan with help from Amanda Lewellyn. It was edited by Matt Collette with help from Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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