The Covid did not kill the cities. But why was this prophecy so alluring?

From the moment cases of the American coronavirus emerged in the Seattle area and then devastated New York City last spring, sweeping predictions followed for the future of city life.

Density was made for. An exodus to the suburbs and small towns would ensue. The allure of a backyard and home office would outweigh the demand for vibrant urban spaces. And Zoom would replace the in-person connections that give cities their economic power.

But now the city sidewalks come to life, pandemic migration patterns have become clearer and researchers dissipated first fears this density is one of the main drivers of Covid-19.

What was so appealing about End of Cities?

The prophecies of the demise of city life have transformed to match the present moment: disease will surely kill cities, or congestion, or corruption, or the suburbs, or fiscal crises, or technology, or crime, or terrorism, or this pandemic (unlike all previous pandemics).

Inevitably, the city survives. And yet so does the belief that he will fall next time.

This ideological current dates back to Thomas Jefferson. American cities have been associated with corruption and inseparable from stereotypes about immigrants and African Americans. They were considered unhealthy places to live, especially for families.

The pandemic struck as this ideological contempt for cities returned to being a central theme of partisan politics in the United States, with Donald J. Trump and other conservative politicians and commentators appearing to rejoice in no sign of urban struggles.

It is true that some cities have lost inhabitants during the pandemic. Residents have left New York at higher rates, but many appear to have moved to smaller towns on the outskirts of the region.

It’s not so much a story of redistributing people or power away from New York City as a superstar region, but that of a still growing metropolitan area.