And in the End …

We draw together the book’s themes. These revolve round the core importance of human contact, with face-to-face ever more important, not less, because when insight and knowledge matter F2F will always have the edge. This is despite the ever-deeper penetration of ICT, which allows more choice, accelerates change and enables unparalleled contact, but doesn’t replace face-to face. The pandemic ran a full-strength test of what an e-only work world could be like. The experience will cement and accelerate certain tendencies that already existed, but will not create fundamentally new ones. The long-run strength of central places is because ‘cities are about uncertainty’ and their offer of proximity, of the ‘buzz’, and of confidence is vital. The potential is great: ‘being there’ is still at the core of the urban experience, and face-to-face contact is what towns and cities do for a living.