This Quirky Technology Is Tracking Your Phone To Uncover Office Attendance In Major Cities: How Do San Francisco, New York Rank?

The Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley is using mobile phone data containing user locations to gather data surrounding office attendance.

The newer method of data scraping directly measures downtown activity patterns and offers a unique way to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on downtown offices.

Apollo Global Management analyzed the data, reporting that San Francisco has only reached 31% of pre-pandemic levels, while New York is at 74% and Chicago at 50%.

According to the study, mobile phone data provides a new way to measure downtown vitality, which is typically measured via office vacancy rates, public transportation ridership and retail spending. Researchers at Berkeley examined visits over time to 62 downtown areas using mobile phone data, comparing the most recent activity to pre-pandemic levels.

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The study found there is a wide variation in the extent of pandemic recovery, with activity ranging from a low of 31% of pre-pandemic levels in San Francisco to a high of 135% in Salt Lake City.

The key factors positively influencing recovery rates for downtowns — as of late fall 2022 — are lower commute times and the presence of economic sectors including accommodation, food, health care and construction.

Downtown areas will need to diversify economic activity and land uses to survive in the new era of remote work, the study suggests.

Although many downtowns have added new housing, offices continue to dominate, comprising on average 71% of real estate. Places with a higher share of employment in knowledge-based industries and occupations, and more highly paid workers, are more likely to shift towards remote work.

This study shows that downtowns throughout North America are recovering more slowly than the rest of the cites and that a distinct set of downtowns — typically older, denser downtowns reliant on professional or tech workers and located within large metros — continue to struggle to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The study further suggests downtowns need to be proactive about recreating spaces for people, which could mean creating outdoor spaces with cultural events, rethinking streets for transit, bikes and pedestrians, and attracting diverse segments of the population to visit.

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