Covid-19 and heterogeneous restrictions: possible consequences for EU cities

Abstract

Abstract Covid-19 has obliged public authorities to enact several restrictions to citizens’ everyday life. Some of them were or will be transitory, while others may result in long-term changes in production organisation. The analysis offered in this paper links the restrictions to the level of economic freedom of the EU members. The aim is to understand whether these two aspects were related, and the potential legacy of the restrictions for economies and cities. Likely, only teleworking will survive the pandemic, but it might entail major changes in the organisation of production, especially for jobs located in cities.