AFIRE Podcast 2024.13: Rebecca Rockey on How to Disrupt the Urban Doom Loop

A recent report from Cushman & Wakefield suggests that “urban doom loops” can be halted and reversed when investors, developers, and planners optimize the built environment for a balance of “live, work, and play” design suited to modern (and continually evolving) social tastes.

In this episode of the AFIRE Podcast, Rebecca Rockey, deputy chief economist and global head of forecasting for Cushman & Wakefield joins AFIRE CEO Gunnar Branson to discuss the report’s key findings.

The report, “Reimagining Cities: Disrupting the Urban Doom Loop,” shows that an average US downtown has about 70% of its real estate devoted to work purposes. But the optimal pie chart for walkable urban places (WalkUPs) is far more mixed, with work environments accounting for just 42% of real estate, while 31% is for live purposes and 26% for play. 

Consequently, in this fascinating conversation focused on the reinvigoration of American cities after the pandemic, Rockey suggests that downtowns seeking to counteract the doom loop decrease the proportion of “work” and increase the amount of real estate devoted to live and play purposes – and that investors, developers, and planners can lead the charge.

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The AFIRE Podcast with Gunnar Branson is the official, multiple-award-winning podcast of AFIRE, the association for international real estate investors focused on commercial property in the United States.

Hosted by AFIRE CEO Gunnar Branson, the podcast features informative and in-depth conversations with experts across the full spectrum of real estate, investment, sustainability, economics, geopolitics, and urbanism with a focus on helping each other become Better Investors, Better Leaders, and Better Global Citizens. To learn more, visit afire.org/podcast

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Benjamin van Loon, Communications Director
bvanloon@afire.org | +1 202 312 1405

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