We paid an enormous cost for being underprepared for COVID, which was the worst airborne virus since the Great Flu of 1918–1920. At this point in 2023 the Covid-19 pandemic is not over, but it is less deadly due to mass vaccinations. Business and leisure travel continues to remain below pre-pandemic levels and people will continue to migrate to the warmer climate of south-west Queensland. The current moment in Adelaide is one of incomplete recovery, with a possible dystopian future of COVID-19 becoming the first of many pandemics, with these pandemics become even deadlier.

One notable characteristics of a post-Covid Adelaide is the large number of empty shops, spaces and offices in the CBD. The vacancy rate, from what I can gather from walking around the CBD, is very high. The older, lower grade office spaces are being left to slowly decay, even though they occupy prime city locations. Some are being used for storage, while others just sit empty and lifeless with broken downpipes and faded blinds.

Unlike Melbourne there are not that many residents living in Adelaide’s CBD and many office workers now work from home. The ‘knowledge’ jobs amenable to working from home are currently concentrated in the CBDs of our capital cities. And the people who work in those jobs tend tolive in the inner and middle suburbs

So the cafe’s that used to cater to the pre-Covid lunch time for the office workers now don’t have custom to sustain them. As people have gotten used to working from home, they’re also becoming more closely acquainted with the shops in their local area in an online shopping world. I noticed that much of the retail spaces on the upper floors of the Myer Centre in Rundle Mall has emptied in recent years.

It would also appear that there is a lot of the older building stock in the CBD that is currently unusable, unwanted, unsustainable, ugly and empty. Would it be economically feasible to retrofit a 40 year old CBD empty commercial office into a residential dwelling? Such a possibility of renewing Adelaide does presuppose a larger residential population living in the city than there is at present, as well as overcoming the barriers to change of use.

Then again Adelaide’s vacant shop fronts and empty streets have long been a symbol of the city’s struggles.Many shops were vacant even before the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to high rents and pressure from online shopping (eg., Amazon). The pandemic was just the final straw for retail vacancy. So there is a lot of space, just waiting for the next thing to happen.

Why not adapt a few of these empty spaces so they could be used as art spaces for local artists? I am sure that the enduring appeal of face-to-face contact will continue to attract people, especially younger people, to the city’s CBD. Neither zoom nor the risk of pandemic can destroy the desire to interact, live, work with other humans and share a meal or a drink.

It is unlikely that COVID-19, despite the high levels of devastation it has caused in certain cities,such as Melbourne, will derail the long-standing process of urbanisation and the economic role of cities. Innovation, creativity and economic growth require the clustering of talent and economic assets, face-to-face interaction, buzz, diversity and the critical mass that only cities can provide. Despite the social scarring —- ie., the fears that residents of large cities have acquired during this Covid-19 pandemic —- Adelaide will continue to shift back to greater mobility, connectivity and interaction.