Major tech companies say they are open to their staff working from home permanently. Employees are coming to realize remote working is not only possible but, in some cases, preferable. A shift to a new way of working might already be under way.

Such a shift could have profound implications on our home life, and by extension on the life of our towns and cities: almost a quarter of all office space in England and Wales is in central London alone.

To understand those implications, we brought together four experts on city life, all of whom were working from home.