If the combination of Covid-19 and remote work technologies like Zoom has undermined the role of cities in economic life, what could an even more robust technology like the metaverse do? Will it finally be the great upheaval that destroys the role of cities and density? A paraphrasing Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky: The place to be was Silicon Valley. It seems that now the place to be is the Internet.

The simple answer is no, and for a basic reason. Wave after wave of technological innovation – the telegraph, the tram, the telephone, the automobile, the plane, the Internet, and more – have brought predictions of the disappearance of physical location and the death of cities. Time and time again, such forecasts have been proven wrong. And while the pandemic has change…