I apologize in advance as I am struggling with the correct wording. I am seeing a move away from postWW2 models of urban growth and structure to one that seems to mirror more traditional cities in that they are consistent over the entire built up area. For example the move away from most commercial space being in a single downtown to widely dispersed. Another feature is higher densities in newly built suburban areas. Frankly I see more development that reminds me of what I saw in Istanbul and Bangkok!
If this is what academics are seeing could someone point out sites with more info? And is there a name for this? Post-Covid Global City? Homogenization of Global Cities?
I think your assertion is a bit too general here.
You need to specify what cities you are seeing change in, and from what to what?
Paris, for instance, has never really had a single concentrated commercial node with the possible exception of Le Defense.
Meanwhile, Toronto has long had pockets of density throughout suburban areas in a way that confounds many Americans.
So you need to identify a benchmark or anchor somewhere and say.........they appear to have a new direction.
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In general, in Canada in particular, there has been a move to boost densities, particularly in both inner and new suburban areas, and building up more of a so-called 15-minute city.
But lets note, Toronto is further from achieving that today than it was 30 years ago, much more sprawl, far longer commutes, and less neighbourhood level grocery, retail and entertainment.
Put another way, talking points aren't necessarily what's actually built.
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Lets stop for a moment and quickly glance at East York, as inner suburban area, because its one I've looked at before.
Rather than repeat myself, I'll link to my previous post:
Any updates regarding the new Shoppers that was supposed to be built at the northwest corner of Pape and Cosburn? Not much has been happening there for a long time now... Change of plans. The site is almost certainly going to be used for Ontario Line Cosburn station construction. Molybdenum...
urbantoronto.ca
Note how much more auto-centric and how much less 15-minute the area has become even as population has increased somewhat.
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Certainly we're seeing a push to get back towards that.........type of living and that is evolving in downtown Toronto and midtown and a few other pockets to a greater degree, but really, with a few exceptions, we're only re-creating what we actually had in the 1960s and 70s in terms of post-WWII.
The reasons for that are complex and varied and involve more than just Planning philosophy, but shifts in the labour force, economics, demographics and evolving business strategies.
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Now lets pull back from that and say that certainly we've seen some revival of U.S. downtowns, particularly portions of Chicago around the 'The Loop' and NYC in Harlem, Hell's Kitchen and pockets of Brooklyn....... but I'd be careful about stretching that too far.
Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and even SF remain very, very sprawly, and with very little indication of change at scale.
I think for the most part the big urban form changes in 'the west' have largely been in Canada and Australia, but I don't think they truly mirror historic patterns in Istanbul, Bangkok or Paris.
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Finally, terminology.
A city with multiple nodes rather than a single concentrated downtown is 'Polycentric'. or Multi-nodal. If you search those terms you will find papers of interest.
'15 minute Cities' generally describes the vision of areas that can support jobs, school, shopping and employment close at hand.
