Working From Home

[Josquius]

Yeah...dense hellscape. Barcelona, Vienna, Amsterdam... No no no. What you need to be replicating is St Louis.

Can't speak for the others, but Barcelona is indeed pretty bad.

Yes, it's lively. It's also incredibly expensive. Most working folk live quite far away and might need up to an hour to get to the center to enjoy any of that leisure, in addition to the time they wasted commuting.

It's curious that these dense and walkable places end up being very expensive.
Almost like... People want to live in such places?

So your urban planning ideal is a city only well-off people can enjoy?

How on earth do you get that?

No. Its learn from these places that are obviously popular and copy it elsewhere.

[Iormlund]

There's nothing special about them. People moved there looking for jobs.

And if working from home became commonplace, instead of an empty landscape and a gargantuan urban hellscape, you'd have decentralized amenities (bars, pubs, clubs of all sorts) and the same cities hosting major events (concerts, opera, etc).

Working remotely doesn't even mean you have to remain home all day. You can go to a café, a local co-working space, etc.

[Josquius]

There's nothing special about them. People moved there looking for jobs.

This is untrue. There definitely are features of these desirable cities that many cities lack.
Decent transit, walkability, vibrancy, etc...
In Barcelonas case for instance one of its big features that gets a lot of plaudits are super blocks.

And if working from home became commonplace, instead of an empty landscape and a gargantuan urban hellscape, you'd have decentralized amenities (bars, pubs, clubs of all sorts) and the same cities hosting major events (concerts, opera, etc).

Except these things tend to operate heavily based on network effects.
In Japan I saw in many places a situation where car centric design was pursued and things were left decentralised. It was...not good. It meant there was a lot less overall, discoverability was low, casual outings eliminated for most, and the general place feeling very lifeless.
If this wasnt Japan social cohesion would have totally gone.

Working remotely doesn't even mean you have to remain home all day. You can go to a café, a local co-working space, etc.

This isn't true for a majority of people. Most towns don't really have Co working spaces or decent cafes. Especially one in easy reach of everyone.

[Iormlund]

You are putting the cart before the horse here. These cities have infrastructure because there's people there. Not the other way around. If Valladolid had remained the capital, that's where all the people now in Madrid would be (and museums, public transit, etc).

I don't know how it is in Japan or the UK, but over here we have sporting clubs, bars and restaurants in every neighbourhood. Just like we have them in smaller cities, towns and even villages.
Because that's who we are. And if offices were closed, I'm sure some of those would evolve into co-working spaces, and some other would be created.

[Josquius]

You are putting the cart before the horse here. These cities have infrastructure because there's people there. Not the other way around. If Valladolid had remained the capital, that's where all the people now in Madrid would be (and museums, public transit, etc).

I don't know how it is in Japan or the UK, but over here we have sporting clubs, bars and restaurants in every neighbourhood. Just like we have them in smaller cities, towns and even villages.
Because that's who we are. And if offices were closed, I'm sure some of those would evolve into co-working spaces, and some other would be created.

I'm not comparing to other towns in Spain here. I was speaking globally. The cities I mentioned are examples of major cities that are well regarded for having good features of human centred design.
Plenty of  large, rich, powerful cities in the world that don't have this.

I have no idea how small Spanish towns are. But that sounds quite unique if life continues to survive in them. In Switzerland too I've noticed small towns tend to be dead these days though have a history where they were not.
The problem with the idea that stuff will just naturally emerge in small towns is.. Why hasn't it already? Sure many people may be commuting to the nearby big city but they're still home on the weekend... Yet they choose to take their weekends to the city too.
I can't see this changing. Only without the weekday footfall the amount to be found in the city will be considerably less - is the idea then this will allow small towns to compete, via making cities worse rather than the towns directly better?

I'm not saying remote work is bad here. Merely that we should be aware of its down sides as well as its positives - and hopefully figure out how to counter balance those.

[Iormlund]

Smaller towns already have places to go. They always had. If anything, they have less now, since most young people emigrate.
No matter how small, I have never been in a place in Spain without access to several bars and at least one good restaurant. That just doesn't happen.

Mid-sized and big cities have other, less frequent amenities (big museums, concerts, etc). Major dance clubs are not always downtown (eg. one of the best clubs in the Northeast is in a tiny town between Barcelona and Zaragoza).

For more normal stuff on weekends though, many people I know will usually stay closer to their homes.

[Syt]

[Tamas]

And this is different from today's office worker how? :p

[crazy canuck]

Presumably you walk around your office and talk to people in person rather than staring at a screen all day?

[Iormlund]

I'm very fortunate in that the same reason that prevents me from WFH also means I don't sit at a desk all day. It's especially great for my back.

I typically spend at least half my day on the shop floor either fixing shit or trying to break it in new, creative ways.

[Valmy]

Presumably you walk around your office and talk to people in person rather than staring at a screen all day?

Not if I have work to do.

[Josquius]

Certainly I basically don't exercise these days vs the mile or two of walking when commuting.
I bought an under desk bike.... Didn't consider my knees would smack the underside of the desk.

[Tamas]

Presumably you walk around your office and talk to people in person rather than staring at a screen all day?

You are clearly not in IT.

[Tamas]

This morning I opened the door to the postman still in my PJs. The time was 7:45, about the same time I used to roll into the office parking lot following a 40 minutes drive, now it was 15 minutes before my wake-up alarm would go off.

[Tamas]

Presumably you walk around your office and talk to people in person rather than staring at a screen all day?

Ah also it looks much better than the drawing they once showed us on some training about how you shouldn't be sitting constantly during your work in the office.