CITIES, SLICKER

FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO BERLIN, METROPOLISES ARE REVITALIZING THEIR CORES, TO MEET THE LIVE-WORKPLAY NEEDS OF MODERN RESIDENTS STORY

- BOYD FARROW

IMAGES LEFT: COURTESY OF LOVEFROM; RIGHT: COURTESY OF CANARY WHARF GROUP FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO BERLIN, METROPOLISES ARE REVITALIZING THEIR CORES TO MEET THE LIVE-WORK-PLAY NEEDS OF MODERN RESIDENTS

It is five years since the Covid pandemic began to change how and where many of us work, rest and play. Unsurprisingly, urban spaces are changing accordingly. Here, we look at how some very different cities are becoming more, well, livable.

THE SQUARE ROUTE

Jony Ive could have ridden out the pandemic on a megayacht or in the grounds of a secluded château. Eight months earlier, the world’s most famous industrial designer had left Apple Inc.—where he helped create the iPhone, iPod and Apple Watch—and was worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

But instead of doodling in isolation, Ive spent much of 2020 in downtown San Francisco, looking at real estate in the Jackson Square district. This dense pocket of coffee shops and boutiques was where he had decided to reboot his life, cofounding a new multifaceted “creative collective” with another global design superstar, Marc Newson—the Keith Richards to his Mick Jagger.

Embracing the inner city at a time when so many businesses were closing—and indeed, so many tech bros were turning their back on San Francisco—seemed perverse. But so much about Ive’s new venture is counterintuitive—and completely personal.