The term “doughnut effect” appeared at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, when Bloom and his colleagues described how commercial areas of large cities and downtowns like Lower Manhattan in New York were emptying out.
At the same time, the popularity of areas adjacent to megacities was growing.
This was due to quarantine measures, self-isolation regimes, and other restrictions on movement. However, experts believed that after the measures were lifted, the economy of large city centers would recover to its previous level.
A few years later, a team of economists returned to the “doughnut effect” again. Scientists analyzed an array of data on real estate demand, card transactions, migration flows, commuting routes, and public transportation use. And they came to the conclusion that, despite the end of the pandemic, the “doughnut effect” in US megacities remains.