There’s been much in the press lately about the future of the office and what shape it will take in this post-GenY, post-recession, post-technology environment. The question that keeps recurring—as Boomers retire and HR folks turn to the next generation, as corporate space allocations continue to shrink and as digital devices free us from our office desks—is, what is the importance of place?

It was the topic of conversation for my keynote panel at the BOMA Every Building Conference in Seattle in June, and is treated in-depth in the upcoming issue of Better Buildings, in Jennifer LeClaire’s insightful feature, The Brave New World—In Your Office Building. Indeed, all of these factors (probably the economy least, or at least most short-term, of all) are working major changes on the way we work and the shape of where we work.

But does shrinking space mean a subsequent shrinkage in the importance of place? Of course not, as CoreNet Global points out in its recently released Corporate Real Estate 2020 report. According to its membership survey, 60% of respondents agree with the following statement: Alternative workplace strategies such as the virtual office will play a conspicuous role in some sectors, but physical place will predominate when we consider the totality of corporate real estate. By comparison, the total of those who disagree, strongly disagree or were neutral on the subject barely broke 15%.