Has downtown London recovered from the pandemic? Depends who you ask

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Downtown London’s pandemic recovery ranked eighth best in Canada, a grade one London core-area watcher said could have been better, while the city’s deputy mayor believes it signals a strong comeback.

London’s core ranked eighth out of all Canadian cities in terms of “recovery rate” and was 18th in mid-size cities across North America in how it bounced back from COVID, says a just-released study from four University of Toronto researchers and one from the University of California at Berkeley.

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The study, based on tracking cellphone activity, says London is now seeing 79 per cent of the activity in the core it did prior to COVID.

One Western University researcher who announced the study suggests London could have done better, and blames city hall for backing away from a downtown recovery plan after the pandemic.

“London’s downtown has been struggling and it is frustrating to see a lack of policy action from the city,” said Alexander Wray, a doctoral student in the geography department at Western who sits on the board for Downtown London, a group that represents downtown businesses.

He said the city has “walked back” from its core area action plan (CAAP) and taken other steps after the pandemic that hurt the core, including:

• Lack of action on the homeless hubs plan, which would alleviate homelessness downtown.
• Cutting its ambassador program.
• Little action on a parking needs study or building a parking garage.
• Planning to build a new “city hall campus” when the vacancy rate for core office space is more than 30 per cent. 
• Supporting the move of 400 Ontario WSIB office workers out of downtown to an office on Veterans Memorial Parkway.

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“There is no CAAP now, so what is guiding the city to make decisions downtown? It is a rudderless ship. What are the objectives and goals” for downtown? said Wray.

But deputy mayor Shawn Lewis said the decline in cellphone activity is a sign of workers not returning to downtown office space, as evidenced by the high commercial vacancy rate.

He believes standing eighth overall in the country is a positive and will trend higher the more people fill residential towers now under construction.

“I think a return to 79 per cent activity is pretty good. We still do not have all the pieces in place” for the downtown to recover from COVID, Lewis said.

“I think that number will trend higher. More people are moving downtown.” 

He said the action plan was a “nice to have,” but not a difference maker in improving downtown. As for core-area parking, politicians expect a report soon.

Lewis points to RBC Place London convention centre and Budweiser Gardens that have both seen a return to activity comparable to prior to the pandemic. The downtown also will have more police foot patrols, and the city’s homeless and mental health strategies target a complex issue that relies on many players for support, he said

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“The city cannot fix all those issues (alone),” Lewis said. ”There are only so many dollars to go around.”

The report, titled Assessing Downtown Recovery Rates and Determinants in North American Cities After the COVID-19 Pandemic, compared phone activity from 2019 to 2023. It called for downtowns to be diverse, with work not concentrated in any one area.

“When downtowns host a concentration of sectors where remote or hybrid work options are readily available, such as information, finance, professional services and management, they fare poorly. If, instead, they are characterized by industries such as accommodation and food services, manufacturing, educational services, construction, retail and health care and social assistance, the downtowns are more likely to thrive post pandemic,” the report said.

Lowering crime rates also is important to recovery as is having effective transit , the report said, but a “mixed-use” focus was critical.

“One key lesson from the pandemic is the wisdom of designing buildings and communities with adaptability in mind, ensuring they are not restricted to a single purpose.”

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The report’s authors are Karen Chapple, Amir Forouhar, Jeff Allen, Byeonghwa Jeong and Julia Greenberg in California.

Measuring cellphone activity in downtowns as a percentage of pre-pandemic activity

Mid-size cities across North America

• Las Vegas: 103% 
• El Paso: 97%
• Bakersfield, Calif.: 95%
• Miami: 92%
• Mississauga: 91%
• Tucson: 91%
• Wichita, Kan.: 89%
• Omaha, Neb.: 88%
• Colorado Springs: 87%
• Quebec: 87%
• Milwaukee: 86%
• Atlanta: 85%
• Halifax: 85%
• Vancouver: 85%
• Tulsa, Olka.: 82%
• Salt Lake City: 82%
• Tampa: 81%
• London: 79%

Canadian cities

• Mississauga: 91%
• Quebec: 87%
• Halifax: 85%
• Vancouver: 85%
• Calgary: 85%
• Ottawa: 82%
• Edmonton: 82%
• London: 79%
• Winnipeg: 76%
• Toronto: 70%
• Montreal: 67%

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