[EnergySpin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '.')..How about the 5000 new homes going in on the Salton Sea east of Borrego Springs?

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergySpin', '.')..The history of that particular "sea" is kind of interesting...

[coyote]

The Salton Sea's messed up all right. Used to be a major vacation draw, now people can't go anywhere near the water. Another casualty of modern agriculture.

Someone's got some crazy idea to partition the Salton into three sections, and make one third a wildlife sanctuary, the opposite side another swimming spot for people. They didn't mention what would happen to the third section...

[coyote]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'A')ny job which can be done by telecommuting can be outsourced all the more easily. Enjoy the farce it while it lasts.

[Backtosteam]

The guy can't have any free time during the week. I can't imagine all of that wasted time in a car. That is nuts. I wonder how long he's been at this.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('coyote', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'A')ny job which can be done by telecommuting can be outsourced all the more easily. Enjoy the farce it while it lasts.

[coyote]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('coyote', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'A')ny job which can be done by telecommuting can be outsourced all the more easily. Enjoy the farce it while it lasts.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('coyote', 'W')hat you say about synergy makes perfect sense, and I can visualize what you mean, working in a firm. Perhaps I have a different perspective as a freelancer. I do meet with clients often; but when I'm not specifically meeting with clients, I work on their jobs at home, with a lot of email communication. I try to schedule meetings to occur in bunches, certain days of the week. And I do have at least one regular paying client whom I've never met in person, but who likes the work I do for him, because I understand his ideas and am familiar with his target audience. In contrast, before me he tried using someone who lived in Hong Kong. Didn't work out, not because the kid wasn't talented, but for the reasons I mentioned in the previous post.

[gwmss15]

what about if this commute was by rail the whole way that way it would be very relaxing ie food and drinks on the train plus time to sleep if you like. or do work on the train thus reducing time needed in the office.

this is common in victoria australia where some people commute 2 hours each way 200km by train

but to drive this every day is crazy rail is ok if you live and work close to the stations.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gwmss15', 'w')hat about if this commute was by rail the whole way that way it would be very relaxing ie food and drinks on the train plus time to sleep if you like. or do work on the train thus reducing time needed in the office.

this is common in victoria australia where some people commute 2 hours each way 200km by train

but to drive this every day is crazy rail is ok if you live and work close to the stations.

[gwmss15]

the trains currently run at 130kph max average 90kph from october 2006 max 160kph and 120kph average not all that high speed but will reduce travelling time on all lines by 20 mins to less than 2 hours all stations.

plus more peak time trips about 2 to 3 times more to kill the sardine can that occurs closer to the city.

however on arriving in melb there is a dense network of high freqency trams (light rail 42lines) every 1 to 8 mins depending on the route that covers the housing, office and shopping districts of the inner 15km of the city. also melbourne has a suburban rail system (17lines) coming together in the same places as the light rail and intercity (5lines) trains with 5 stops coving the business district.

how many cities in the USA have a system like this and this system has been running for over 100 years.

the only issue in melbourne is poor connecting buses in the suburbs and country areas. also the lack of regular trips after 8pm at night ie 30 min freq is really crap should be at least 15 mins freq at night.

[gg3]

Back to telecommuting for a moment...

Emersonbiggins, I don't like to boast, but I'm an expert in this field, > 20 years' experience in the industry. A number of features on the Panasonic KXTDA and KXTVA platforms, as well as KXTD and KXTVS before them, are things I originally designed and proposed to Panasonic, which they adopted. The whole foundation of telecommuter features on those systems originated with something I developed in 1998 called OutRoute, which we still offer along with the newer feature-sets. (And if you only think of Panasonic as video, they've been doing commercial phone systems since at least 1964, this I know because I have one of their 1964 office telephone sets and the date is stamped on some of the parts.)

We have a number of clients who are architecture firms, some of whom are household names in the architectural field. And it is true that of all of our categories of clients, architects are more reliant than average on the physical office.

However, from everything I've seen, the issue of interpersonal synergy is largely generational. The blunt fact is that GenX and younger are as capable, sometimes moreso, of doing creative synergy via phone, email, and online chat, as they are in person. And for those who insist on seeing a face to go with the voice, there are numerous videoconference solutions that will work with any desktop of laptop on any OS.

As for outsourcing, its days are numbered. No less a conservative than Kevin Phillips has come out with a scathing critique of "financialization", many others have been up in arms about the stripping of the American economy, and liberals are onboard with this one as well. There is a growing coalition on this issue, which will eventually translate to enough votes to make it stick. Take away some of the favorable tax treatments and other market-warping "incentives," and it becomes a far less attractive option.

Additionally, the fact remains that telecommuting and virtual offices, are viable in cases that are not susceptible to outsourcing.

Think of a construction company or anything else that is largely field-based, anything where you meet on the client's site rather than have the client at your site. In many of those cases, there is no need for an office as such, and going virtual saves much in overhead costs.

Telecommuting also works as a part-time solution for office-based jobs. I know of a major law firm which is a household name in the legal profesion, in which attorneys routinely work from home two to three days each week. They meet with clients on their downtown office days, they do deskwork on their home office days. These are people making a half million and up per year, and you can believe they are not going to be outsourced. I know of a number of privately held companies, and a number of publicly traded companies, in which engineers, middle managers, upper-level managers, senior managers, and their staffs, do likewise.

Telecommuting also works for small companies in a wide range of fields. Right now it is possible to have a virtual office with people anywhere in the world, with all of the communications capabilities you would find in a regular physical office suite. These small companies are typically privately held, and they do not outsource their own jobs. For the price of two months' rental of physical office space, they can buy outright all the telephony and computer networking infrastructure they need, and the only cost after that is the same cost for dialtone & data carrier services they would pay in any case.

This is not to say it's a panacea. Clearly there are cases where it just doesn't fit. And clearly the technology, like any other, can be used for harmful purposes as well as beneficial ones. But many are the cases where it fits well and more than earns its keep. The growth in demand for it is clear, and every single telecommuter is one less car that would otherwise be stuck in traffic, burning dinosaurs, and going nowhere fast.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', '.')..every single telecommuter is one less car that would otherwise be stuck in traffic, burning dinosaurs, and going nowhere fast.

[gg3]

I agree it would be dangerous for humanity if large numbers of Americans were able to avoid leaving their houses for weeks on end. Because doing so would break the transmission route for pandemic avian flu, thereby not contributing our fair share to the global human species-cull upon which Ma Nature is depending in order to avoid even more dire measures in order to clean house. But that won't happen. At best, the chronic stay-at-homes will be Darwinian selected for fitness, whereas the commuter polluters will more likely Darwinize themselves. (Doomer humor anyone?:-)

Seriously though, telecommuters & delivery trucks are as much a part of the solution as wind farms and nuclear reactors.

And as for architects, consider the potential here. The home office as new element in the design of custom homes and standardized floorplans alike. The downsizing of corporate offices in downtown highrises, accompanied by an upscaling of the actual square footage they still need. The benefit to the highrise owners of a larger and therefore more robust tenant base (each renting smaller square footage), rather than a smaller number of tenants (each renting entire floors) who are more susceptible to the cyclical waves of the business cycle.

And consider the greatest potential of all, the one that might just save us from the worst consequences of our past fifty years of social engineering embodied in the bad design choice of sprawl upon sprawl upon sprawl:

Consider what happens when you re-zone each corner lot in a sprawl, for light commercial. Consider some of those houses turning into little grocery stores, hardware stores, local branches of financial institutions, doctors' offices, and other practical emblems of the new old Main Street USA. Consider the sight of residents from the surrounding half-square-mile or so walking to those places or riding their bikes, or using tiny electric microcars that need perform only as well as today's golf carts in order to be fully viable in such places.

Those sprawly suburbs might, just might, be reborn as actual towns, with an American version of the European feel of places that are compact, convenient, and community-positive. After the first example, it will catch on and spread like the contagious meme it is. Whoever does it first will have a place for themselves in history.

You can do this.

[pea-jay]

Those sprawly suburbs might, just might, be reborn as actual towns, with an American version of the European feel of places that are compact, convenient, and community-positive. After the first example, it will catch on and spread like the contagious meme it is. Whoever does it first will have a place for themselves in history.

That's an awfully optimistic assesment, though I don't think it is impossible. But not all sprawl is the same. Higher density, clustered spraw surrounded by open space in most climate regions would easier to retrofit. Look at this picture, taken of a 1960s planned unit development in Reston VA, a sprawling (but planned) town 25 mi west of DC.

Assuming a low energy but hightech future, this settlement would work well. The clustered nature of the property has reduced the amount of space the actual buildings take up, while preserving much of the surrounding lands. At the moment, those are forested, but those woods could be cut down (used for lumber) and cultivated. The interior parking lots could be built on (communal structures/retail or manufacturing) or torn up and also used for gardening. The structures themselves are connected and more easily retrofitted with something like district heating or solar solutions. Not to forget, with fewer exposed walls, these structures are inherintly more efficient. Granted these are 60s era buildings and more inefficient than newer structures, but you get the idea. While the cluster (as they are called) is strictly residential, it is flexible owing to the open space surrounding it and tight foot print within.

This form of sprawl is retrofittable in my opinion. The only obstacles are governmental (zoning, land use designations). The retrofit itself would be relatively inexpensive. These places could be the hamlets of the future.

Contrast that to this:


This more common form of sprawl, whether at this density or slightly less is less useful in a low energy world. Retrofitting this community would require new connections for one. The hierarchical street network forces only one or two ways to arterials and the property to property nature of the sprawl has more or less eliminated any openspace. Now you have residents still disconnected from each other by increased distance while at the same time greatly disadvantaged by their inflexible street network.

Nor are the properties themselves of much use. Too small for agriculture and too far spread out for communal solutions.

I was trying to reconcile the apparent differences in suburbia in another thread I created a few days back.

http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic19289.html

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', 'T')hose sprawly suburbs might, just might, be reborn as actual towns, with an American version of the European feel of places that are compact, convenient, and community-positive. After the first example, it will catch on and spread like the contagious meme it is. Whoever does it first will have a place for themselves in history.

[coyote]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', 'T')hose sprawly suburbs might, just might, be reborn as actual towns, with an American version of the European feel of places that are compact, convenient, and community-positive. After the first example, it will catch on and spread like the contagious meme it is. Whoever does it first will have a place for themselves in history.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('coyote', 'E')merson: as someone working in the architectural field, are you able to have any impact on the design of communities being built?