Commercial Bay in a COVID context

A few days before official opening it was all go in the covered laneway that runs between Lower Queen Street and Lower Albert Street, and is where Queen Elizabeth Square used to be.

The public space is coming together - and those of us who walk through there each day to and from work will breath a sigh of relief. And look forward to other parts of this massive project to come to a conclusion.

But so much has changed in downtown Auckland. Years ago when all this was being planned, there was no COVID scenario. There was no "black swan" event that needed to be planned around.

So many assumptions made around the presence of wealthy cruise ship passengers drawn to Dior, Prada, Gucci and the rest, offices bursting with workers to such an extent there were projections of office space shortages, and thriving cafe and bar life providing opportunities for investment and more urban construction.

Even in lockdown level 1 Lower Queen Street and Queen Street itself is a ghost town. You could fire a cannon up Queen Street at 9:00 in the morning and hit nobody. Almost the same on the footpaths...

It will change. We're social animals and enjoy being out and about. But it will not be the same for a while. Social distanced behaviour has become a norm for now. NZ may be able to sustain this amazing COVID-free bubble it has become, but we all look at the news and we all know that tourists can't easily come, and we are infected by that, and find other ways to live and to occupy ourselves.