Now that the shock surrounding the severity of the coronavirus pandemic that we are currently going through has worn off to a certain extent, people have started attempting to predict how life will change after the pandemic has passed. Many have posited that more people will start working from home which could reduce the office space required for companies. However, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has provided a counterargument for this, stating that he thinks office space will be at a premium in a post-coronavirus office culture.
A big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that people would most likely want to continue social distancing for quite a long time, and as social distancing would end up becoming such a high priority for so many people it seems likely that companies would have to invest in a lot more office space if they want people to start coming in to work again, otherwise it is likely that people might not come to the offices at all and this simply cannot be feasible since a lot of the things that need to be done can only get done if people are physically present.
Schmidt also made wider predictions, some of which pertain to urban planning. Cities tend to be extremely concentrated in terms of population and this is because of the fact that real estate and space in general costs a lot of money. However, as people start to take social distancing more seriously and would most likely want to look into alternatives in this regard, cities might just end up changing according to the former Google CEO. Only time will tell whether or not his predictions will end up coming true, but for now everything mostly just seems like it’s up in the air.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
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A big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that people would most likely want to continue social distancing for quite a long time, and as social distancing would end up becoming such a high priority for so many people it seems likely that companies would have to invest in a lot more office space if they want people to start coming in to work again, otherwise it is likely that people might not come to the offices at all and this simply cannot be feasible since a lot of the things that need to be done can only get done if people are physically present.
Schmidt also made wider predictions, some of which pertain to urban planning. Cities tend to be extremely concentrated in terms of population and this is because of the fact that real estate and space in general costs a lot of money. However, as people start to take social distancing more seriously and would most likely want to look into alternatives in this regard, cities might just end up changing according to the former Google CEO. Only time will tell whether or not his predictions will end up coming true, but for now everything mostly just seems like it’s up in the air.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Read next: Here's why a majority of U.S. consumers are wary of contact-tracing tools
