The Covid-19 pandemic was a ‘great reset’ moment for geographies the world over — at least, it was supposed to be. At the height of a crisis that forced billions of people to remain at home in 2020 and 2021, talk abounded of the need for radical change in the way people go about life and conduct businesses, and how they affect the environment around them. Now that lockdowns are a receding memory, fDi Intelligence spoke to leaders from cities across Europe to get a clearer impression of the lasting consequences of the pandemic.
Stuart Black, CEO, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, UK
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One thing the pandemic has highlighted is that people can work from anywhere. And increasingly, people want to work in places that are great places to live. We’ve got a great natural environment here in Scotland, and we’ve got real assets in terms of the geography, the mountains and the fact that anyone can get out into the hills quickly. That has made our region even more attractive for investment.
So, increasingly, we’re promoting the lifestyle as much as the incentives and the skills availability. It’s really about the whole package in terms of getting the work–life balance right, so that’s increasingly what we’re promoting. And we’re using different media to do so: we’re using a lot more short films, a lot more testimonies from people who are already here.
Increasingly, we’re promoting the lifestyle as much as the incentives and the skills availability.
Marinos Giannopoulos, CEO, Enterprise Greece, Greece
The pandemic was a big push for the government to digitise everything; the same applies to Enterprise Greece. Today, almost any service can be accessed through a phone and the government portal. The goal is to do everything digitally — apart from getting married or getting a death certificate. And during the pandemic, people got used to engaging more with that kind of digital infrastructure.
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The pandemic was a big push for the government to digitise everything.
Anna Gissler, CEO, Invest Stockholm, Sweden
In Stockholm, before the pandemic, around 30% of people worked remotely, one or two days per week. That was already kind of high for the time. Nowadays, everyone who can is actually working remotely a couple of days a week. This is also thanks to the high level of digitalisation in Stockholm. And we are also branding Stockholm as a city to enjoy the work-life balance. This has become much more important than it used to be, because since the pandemic everyone enjoys working remotely — not every day, but some days because that’s a way to get the right work-life balance.
Since the pandemic everyone enjoys working remotely — not every day, but some days because that’s a way to get the right work-life balance.
Lionel Grotto, CEO, Choose Paris Region, France
We have had lots of conversations with investors about housing. Investors are asking: is there going to be enough housing available? That shows that people have taken over the power from the companies themselves. It’s a big change for attractiveness in Europe and it’s a big lesson for us.
People have taken over the power from the companies themselves. It’s a big change for attractiveness in Europe and it’s a big lesson for us.
Shravan Joshi, chairman of planning and transportation, City of London Corporation, UK
For us, with the advent of hybrid working, the main issue is really how we can bring the kind of footfall back to the Square Mile that disappeared when the lockdowns happened. The approach of forcing your employees back to the office is long gone, and it’s not going to happen again.
We’ve worked out an overarching strategy called “Destination City”. Its main objective is to activate Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to make the week more rounded through getting different demographics into the Square Mile — families, visitors, tourists, education institutions — to experience the city’s heritage, culture and architecture.
The fastest-growing sector investing in the Square Mile in terms of occupancy is technology. Apple is now the largest tenant at 22 Bishopsgate; we’ve got TikTok moving in, so you’ve got pure tech coming. Destination City is about offering that cultural platform and activating spaces using our heritage to bring people in.
With the advent of hybrid working, the main issue is really how we can bring the kind of footfall back to the Square Mile that disappeared when the lockdowns happened.
A second way we’re doing that is really by embracing climate change, embracing what a green city needs to be like. So really pushing up pedestrianisation strategies and reducing motor vehicle traffic. Cycling has now overtaken using motor vehicles in the City, which is a great trend. And we want to continue that: we want to make the streets safer, cleaner, and more inviting and inclusive. So we’ve got a whole programme of works to widen our pavements, for families to come in with pushchairs, for example.
The third part is how you create green buildings — how we do carbon auctioneering, how we get developers, constructors and investors on board, and it’s really driven by tenants. We have anchor tenants who are demanding net-zero opportunities for their occupation and so that’s driving the change. Our role is to provide a framework and a policy for that to happen.
Niko Kyynäräinen, director of economic and business development at the City of Turku, Finland
One thing that really has changed is that we have bigger and bigger projects going on. It’s really about understanding, for example, why young people would decide to choose Turku as a place to live. We have to have cultural events taking place here. We need to really be pushing for tech industries premises, and we are now building new premises for industries such as food. All in all, it’s about thinking bigger and broader. On top of that, we are keeping our focus on sustainability, which predates the pandemic. We really want to be on top of the world with our net-zero emissions, and we will be net zero in 2029.
One thing that really has changed is that we have bigger and bigger projects going on.
Eric Menges, president, FrankfurtRheinMain International Marketing of the Region, Germany
The lesson that we’ve learned is that it’s very easy to do video conferencing, but it does not always serve the purpose — especially when you are required to win the trust of your client and establish a relationship with your client. Video conferencing is fantastic, data analysis is fantastic, but at the end of the day, we still need to meet personally.
Video conferencing is fantastic, data analysis is fantastic, but at the end of the day, we still need to meet personally.
Asbjørn Overgaard, CEO, Copenhagen Capacity, Denmark
Livability comes higher up in the priority list. Having high standards that meet the people’s expectations in terms of where they want to live and work has a higher priority now.
Having high standards that meet the people’s expectations in terms of where they want to live and work has a higher priority now.
This article first appeared in the April/May 2023 print edition of fDi Intelligence.