This Changes Everything #12: Covid's Effect on Cities, Suburb and Small Towns

California Groundbreakers

The pandemic has re-shifted our priorities, particularly where we want to live and work. For many Californians, that location may be a different one than the place they were living before the coronavirus hit. And that’s causing major changes in cities, suburbs and small towns across the state. Join us as we talk with two planning and development experts about how the pandemic is changing the urban and rural regions they live and work in, and what those changes mean for California overall. GUESTS * Alicia John-Baptiste, CEO of SPUR, a nonprofit think tank focused on regional planning and public policy in the San Francisco Bay Area (https://www.spur.org) * Shawna Purvines, deputy director of the Community Development Resource Agency in Placer County (https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/sacramento-tipping-point/article251711163.html) PODCAST PLAY-BY-PLAY * O to 4:10 min - Intro to California Groundbreakers, and to this episode * 4:10 min - John-Baptiste and Purvines share what pandemic-induced changes they've seen in their regions, as planning professionals and as residents * 10:15 min - How the pandemic has affected the housing markets in the Bay Area and super-hot Placer County * 18:35 min - Will it be easier, or harder, now to build more affordable housing in California? * 29:45 min - What will Downtown look like in the future, and where will the new community-gathering hubs be? * 36:30 min - Predictions for post-pandemic traffic patterns and transit use * 43 min - Has the pandemic turned ideas previously considered as "moonshots" into actual possibilities for future community planning and development?