05-31-2020, 10:24 AM
(05-31-2020, 09:01 AM)jamincan Wrote: I live in an apartment - I think roughly 800 sqft - by myself. I've actually been considering upsizing, and think it would be challenging for me to live in this space with more than one person. I've been lucky in that my work has carried on through the shutdown and I've continued to go into work and that my work is such that I am able to keep interactions with others minimal.
Part of what makes living in an apartment doable is that I can take advantage of public spaces, and we're quite fortunate in that respect in Kitchener. I try to always get out of the apartment once per day minimum, as I find my mental health rapidly deteriorates if I don't. In that respect, I think covid-19 has been especially difficult on those WFH who live in apartments, especially somewhere like downtown Toronto. If all the public spaces you would normally use are shutdown, that leaves you stuck in your apartment. I'm not at all surprised to see the massive crowds in parks there.
That said, looking at the bigger picture post-covid-19, I'd gladly WFH if public amenities were still available. I'm rarely more productive than when I go to the library for the day (and I'm missing it sorely). I also wonder if shared office spaces (I think there's another name for this) will become more common as companies now have the infrastructure to support it better. I could live in, say Owen Sound, and walk to a local shared-office space and remote-in from there. I still benefit from keeping work and home spaces separate, but I have the freedom to live where I like.
Lots of people do, I have a friend who had two kids in a two bedroom apartment only slightly larger. They upsized to a three bedroom as they planned to have a third child.
But you really hit the nail on the head, the key is having common public spaces available.
The massive crowds in the parks are not a result of too much density or crowding, but of too little public space. If Toronto had instead opened half the roads downtown to the public for pedestrians (and closed them to cars), I doubt you would see the crowds that you do. This is a self inflicted situation.
I think the term you're looking for is co-working spaces, and yes, we should have more of those. WeWork is the most....well....well known, name in the space, although perhaps not the best example given the controversy. In Waterloo Region there are probably a dozen smaller (and more logical) realestate companies offering co-working and smaller flex office spaces.