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BCBUSINESS.CA JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 BCBUSINESS 45 Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, we've overhauled our annual ranking of B.C.'s best cities for work. An expanded list of 50 communities, a revamped methodology and a shift in focus away from work and toward broader economic health makes the seventh edition very different from those of recent years–yet similarities remain. In these uncertain times, a slew of new indicators and a panel of experts will help answer the question: What are the province's most economically resilient cities? b y A N D R E W M A C A U L A Y When COVID-19 reached B.C.'s shores in early 2020—and society as we know it ground to a halt—the disease triggered the greatest pub- lic health crisis in living memory. Several months into the pandemic, we have a better sense of the risks to human health, but the longer-term impact on the economic health of our communities looks less certain. "We are arguably in the single greatest socio- economic experiment in history," says urban plan- ner Andy Yan, director of the City Program at SFU. According to Yan, the pandemic is not only reshap- ing the economies of our cities but also reorganiz- ing the human geography of our province. To help make sense of a dynamic and evolving situation, the seventh annual Best Cities for Work in B.C. survey consults several experts to reveal the pan- demic's uneven impact on industries and regions. The state of the tourism and real estate sectors and the shift to working from home figure prominently in their evaluation. To gain further clarity and assess the ability of B.C.'s largest cities to weather the economic storm, we developed a new and expanded set of 12 indi- cators with help from research partner Environ- ics Analytics. (For details, see page 49.) Covering demographic, workforce composition, real estate and employment trends, this year's indicators explore key risk factors, resiliency factors and early signs of recovery. BEST CITIES FOR WORK IN B.C.