I’m in the UK and have been fully remote since before the pandemic. After the pandemic my family and I moved from London to Newcastle upon Tyne. What this move has made really clear is that not all cities are made equal.

London is huge and expensive. In order to live in a nice area close enough to the centre to make commuting easy you’re looking at over £1M for a family home. It is an incredibly busy and fairly dirty city that has a culture of sticking your head down and not interacting with those around you. It also is a cultural powerhouse with some of the best restaurants, theatre and museums in the world. When we decided to move we were quite anxious we would miss this even though we couldn’t afford to actually make use of it very much.

Newcastle has surpassed my expectations in every way. It is incredibly welcoming, people go out of their way to interact with you in the street. It is small enough that we can live in the city and have all the associated amenities yet not break the bank. I can cycle into town, pick something up from a shop and be back at my desk within an hour’s lunch break. Our cost of living is massively reduced and our quality of life has gone up tremendously. We have been to more theatre and museums since moving because we have more disposable income. And with the saved money we can afford to visit London and make use of its culture a few times a year.

What I’m trying to get at with this big rambling story is that I hope one of the results of the pandemic is that smaller, more accessible and more affordable cities become more popular.