Traditional central business districts (CBDs) are facing serious competition from new, vibrant mixed-use neighbourhoods following the COVID-19 crisis, according to a new paper from JLL.

The consultancy argues that new city submarkets in “off-core urban fringe locations” are drawing smaller tenants away from CBDs. These areas are home to rapidly evolving creative, tech, and research and development clusters and are also now attracting more investor focus. The mixed-use element of these neighbourhoods include creative office assets, multifamily buildings, boutique hotels, lab space and curated retail products. JLL says the districts are emerging at a rapid pace across the world’s largest cities.

“North American and Australian cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Sydney, Toronto,Vancouver and Washington, DC, which have widely established suburban employment clusters, are witnessing the greatest shift towards mixed-use suburban town centres,” says the report.