Opinion: 'Instant' Delivery Services Could Decimate Street Vitality

The race to deliver goods at lightning speed has the potential to create 'dark cities' as street-level storefronts give way to closed-off warehouses only frequented by delivery workers.

2 minute read

December 10, 2021, 5:00 AM PST

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Empty Retail

Brandon Bourdages / Shutterstock

Lev Kushner and Greg Lindsay posit that the growing trend of 'instant' delivery services "threatens to transform downtowns into dark cities, where the everyday commerce that gives streets their vitality has evaporated from view and been reconstituted on an app."

According to Kushner and Lindsay, app-based delivery services have started to occupy significant portions of commercial real estate in cities, replacing formerly vibrant storefronts with private warehouses. This threatens not just urban street life, they argue, but also the small businesses and restaurants that used to occupy street-level retail spaces. "The demand for convenience is seemingly bottomless, but no city has yet found a way to balance the short-term benefit of personal convenience against the long-term costs of eroding community life through decreased social interaction."

The article cautions public officials to anticipate the impact of these new business models, rather than try to retroactively regulate a new industry like they have with ride-hailing and short-term rentals. The authors recommend simplifying retail permitting, developing policies that incentivize mixed-use development, and improving transportation infrastructure to prepare for more delivery vehicles and workers.

While there is a place for a delivery industry, the article warns, "cities need to start thinking seriously, now, about how residents’ personal choices, and the businesses that respond to those demands, can unintentionally transform our cities and communities." In the same way that ride-hailing has added to congestion and vacation rentals have destabilized local housing markets, the 15-minute delivery model could have significant unintended impacts on urban life.

Tuesday, December 7, 2021 in Bloomberg CityLab

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 2, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Map of Haussmann's redesign of Paris in the 1850s through 1870s under Napoleon III.

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking

Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

June 30, 2025 - Tom Sanchez

Brutalist grey department of housing and urban development building in Washington DC.

How Trump's HUD Budget Proposal Would Harm Homelessness Response

Experts say the change to the HUD budget would make it more difficult to identify people who are homeless and connect them with services, and to prevent homelessness.

2 hours ago - Shelterforce Magazine

Lancaster Boulevard with tree-lined median and wide sidewalks in Lancaster, California.

The Vast Potential of the Right-of-Way

One writer argues that the space between two building faces is the most important element of the built environment.

2 hours ago - Streetsblog USA

Sign in front of building for seior services center in St. Petersburg, Fl.

Florida Seniors Face Rising Homelessness Risk

High housing costs are pushing more seniors, many of them on a fixed income, into homelessness.

4 hours ago - WESH

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Associate/Senior Planner

Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development

Senior Planner

Heyer Gruel & Associates PA