Cities Partner with Developer to Create Living Spaces for 'Digital Nomads'

 

More than one year into the COVID-19 crisis¹, many people are used to doing their jobs from home. Many businesses are thinking about permitting employees to continue to do so even after workplaces reopen.

As a result, lots of people are considering leaving large cities to live in smaller towns.

Rocky Mount², North Carolina; Rochester, New York; Bentonville, Arkansas and Ogden, Utah are among them.

A property company called Common is working with these small towns to come up with a new kind of apartment building that will appeal to people who work from home. They are known as teleworkers or "digital nomads³" because they can work from anywhere.

Matt Micksin is a local director of Common, which develops and manages co-living properties. He says it has found that people want apartment buildings that include office space outside of the individual homes. After all, sometimes people do not want to work in the same rooms where they eat their meals, or sleep, or watch movies, especially if they already share that living space with others.

So, Common has begun to design co-living complexes that include business centers, small offices and other workspaces.

Common asked some of America's smaller cities to propose⁵ some development sites for the complexes. Some of the cities are places that began to fail following the loss of one major employer⁶ or the closure of a big factory. Populations would drop as people moved away to larger cities for work.

Now these smaller towns want people to come back.

The only large city among Common's final group of five development sites is New Orleans, Louisiana. It is known for its Mardi Gras parades, great food, music and a large indoor football stadium. However, it is not known as being a place where young people who work in technology want to live.

Micksin thinks Common can change that by building workspaces.

Micksin said places like Bentonville and Ogden are appealing to people who want to be outside. Bentonville has fishing and forests, and Ogden is close to mountains where people like to ski.

"People are prioritizing what type of lifestyle they may want," he said.

It can be hard to do those outdoor activities while working in a large city, Micksin noted⁷. But if you live in a small town on the edge of a mountain, you can walk right out your door and enjoy such offerings even at the end of the workday.

Micksin said that if people can work from "anywhere," they might be happier working in a quiet, private place close to their living space instead of inside that space.

"We've all seen plenty of Zoom⁸ calls that were coming from someone who didn't have an ideal⁹ setup," he said.

Some of the cities chosen for Common developments have old, interesting buildings that could be changed into spaces where people can live and work.

For example, the Rocky Mount proposal¹⁰ calls for adding to a 10,000 square meter cloth making factory that closed in 1996. The former factory already has offices and places to eat. Now it could have people who live and work in the same building.

Evan Covington Chavez works⁴ for Capitol Broadcasting Company, which manages the old cotton factory. He said his company's group of buildings would be good for people who want to be "plugged in" to local events and meet people who are of a similar age and work background. He said coffee shops and other meeting places would be right outside the door of a home.

"You never have to hop¹¹ in your car," he noted.

Bentonville has a population of about 60,000. The proposal for that city praised its outdoor activities and arts and culture offerings.

Micksin said the key to the success of these new spaces is that they provide both "comfort" and "flexibility¹²" but are not costly¹³.

Common hopes building on the first sites will begin in late 2021.

Words in This Story

apartment –n. a usually rented room or set of rooms that is part of a building and is used as a place to live

prioritize - v. to make (something) the most important thing in a group

ideal –adj. exactly right for a particular purpose, situation, or person

plugged in –adj. used to describe a person who is connected and up-to-date¹⁴

hop –v. to move or go quickly

comfort- n. the things that make you more comfortable and that make your life easier and more pleasant

flexible- adj. able to change or to do different things

1 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

2 mount   

n.山峰，乘用马，框，衬纸；vi.增长，骑上（马）；vt.提升，爬上，装备

参考例句：

• Their debts continued to mount up.他们的债务不断增加。
• She is the first woman who steps on the top of Mount Jolmo Lungma.她是第一个登上珠穆朗玛峰的女人。

3 nomads   

n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活

参考例句：

• For ten years she dwelled among the nomads of North America. 她在北美游牧民中生活了十年。
• Nomads have inhabited this region for thousands of years. 游牧民族在这地区居住已有数千年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

5 propose   

v.提出，建议；提名，推荐

参考例句：

• Did he propose marriage to you?他向你求婚了吗？
• I propose resting for an hour.我建议休息一小时。

6 employer   

n.雇用方，雇主

参考例句：

• My employer deducted ten pounds from my wages this week.我的雇主从我本周的工钱中扣除了十英镑。
• His monthly salary is paid into the bank by his employer.他的月薪由雇主替他存入银行。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

9 ideal   

adj.理想的，完美的；空想的，观念的；n.理想

参考例句：

• The weather at the seaside was ideal—bright and breezy.海边的天气最宜人，风和日丽的。
• They promised to be faithful to their ideal for ever. 他们保证永远忠于自己的理想。

10 proposal   

n.提议，建议；求婚

参考例句：

• I feel that we ought to accept his proposal.我觉得我们应该接受他的建议。
• They could not gain over anyone to support their proposal.他们无法争取到支持他们建议的人。

11 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

12 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

13 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

14 up-to-date   

adj.现代化的，最新的；跟上时代的

参考例句：

• The car is a beauty and quite up-to-date.那辆车子很漂亮是最新款的。
• He bought an up-to-date textbook.他买了一本最新的教科书。