Georgetown University, supported by the National Science Foundation, is convening a one-day research workshop exploring the intersectional and systemic issues perpetuating high levels of vacancy in commercial office space in downtown Washington, DC.
In many ways, office vacancy in the downtown is emblematic of challenges faced by cities across the country. Following the public health emergency of 2020-2023, office workers have developed new patterns of behavior which question the value of in-person work. While popular media have sensationalized this as the beginning of an “urban doom loop” impacting entire cross-sections of urban economies, the social fabric of communities and beyond, our aim is to treat this crisis as an opportunity to re-envision and reimagine the systems that support our downtowns and how we can put them back to work.
Subject matter experts are working on this challenge through many pathways. We believe that by bringing intentionally diverse thought leaders together and giving you new tools you need to understand the problem and each other, solutions will naturally emerge. This workshop will assemble researchers and practitioners from across disciplines to create an organizational framework for integrating their perspectives.
Informed by systems science and featuring ample time to design and play, we will create functional simulations that can be shared broadly among different stakeholders to facilitate discussion and explanation, provide common points of reference, and serve as platforms for low-fidelity rapid prototyping of interventions and solutions.
