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From their homepage: "By 2050, the population in cities will double, intensifying existing socioeconomic, public health and environmental problems." Yes. Peop

by chvid 11y ago

From their homepage: "By 2050, the population in cities will double, intensifying existing socioeconomic, public health and environmental problems." Yes. People move into a few big cities because companies companies like Google congregate there, ultimately creating problems such as skyrocketing rents, congestion, declining real living standards, homelessness. Google holds an obvious solution in its hand. By altering their way of working they could support remote working, creating clusters of specialized work forces and communities online rather than in a narrow physical location.

apendleton 11y ago
Are you suggesting that an industry driving people into cities is new? It isn't. It goes all the way back to the industrial revolution, and the main alternative before us at present (suburban living) only dates back to the '50s. And it's not a panacea: the car-oriented nature of suburban life is environmentally pretty terrible (not to mention that detached single-family dwellings are less efficient to climate control, and more expensive to provide services to for municipalities). And suburban life brings with it the long commute, the length of which is a better predictor of happiness (negatively, of course) than almost any other demographic factor, including income, marital status, house size, or any of the other things people think make their hour and change in a car every day worth it.
manacit 11y ago
I doubt I'm in the minority here when I say I wouldn't move to a 'specialized and remote' community inhabited by people who are all affiliated with the same company. I don't live to work, and I don't want to be surrounded solely by people who are affiliated with the company I work for. While one of the reasons I live in Manhattan is because the job market is very good, I also enjoy it precisely because there is diversity. I can walk down the street or take the train and see hundreds of people working hundreds of different jobs in dozens of industries. That's why people are moving to cities - they're exciting. There's things to do and people to meet.
- stephenr 11y ago
  > I wouldn't move to a 'specialized and remote' community inhabited by people who are all affiliated with the same company. Re-read the sentence again. > By altering their way of working they could support remote working, creating clusters of specialized work forces and communities online rather than in a narrow physical location. The concept is that if you encourage remote working via online workplaces, you can solve the "big city" issue for a percentage of the population by allowing them to live further away from the densely populated areas "because of work".
  - paganel 11y ago
    > The concept is that if you encourage remote working via online workplaces, you can solve the "big city" issue for a percentage of the population by allowing them to live further away from the densely populated areas "because of work". But then again some of us really don't like to work all alone in our house, in the middle of nowhere. If I'm spending 8 hours per day working for my employer I might as well socialize while doing that, not living life like a hermit.
    - stephenr 11y ago
      When did living outside a city become "living life like a hermit"?
      - paganel 11y ago
        Can I ride a bus/affordable taxi back home at 11PM after having a couple of beers in a pub located downtown? If you're living outside a city the answer to this is in most cases a "no".
        stephenr 11y ago
        That depends entirely on the situation, and "affordable" is a relative term. Also, the term "downtown" seems to indicate you're still thinking in terms of a reasonable size city.
vlasev 11y ago
If you look at settlements from a scaling point of view you will inevitably find that not only are larger cities more efficient structures but they lead to an improved quality of life. This is not just because of "companies like Google". Here are some slides (http://www.complexcity.info/files/2011/12/BATTY-Scaling-Laws-For-Cities.pdf http://www.complexcity.info/files/2011/12/BATTY-Scaling-Laws...) and a TED talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyCY6mjWOPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyCY6mjWOPc).
- filiwickers 11y ago
  Yes, large cities make humans more productive! It's not necessarily intuitive but more interactions leads to more innovations. (Shameless Plug) You can read a bit more about the research in the TED talk here: http://santafe.edu/research/cities-scaling-and-sustainability/ http://santafe.edu/research/cities-scaling-and-sustainabilit... Our research group (started by Geoffrey West & Luis Bettencourt) is also trying to understand (and help address) the issues of growing cities in the developing world, where the biggest issue are slums: http://santafe.edu/research/informal-settlements/ http://santafe.edu/research/informal-settlements/
relet 11y ago
Living space and roads are severely limited resources, but in most cases the proximity to resources is more important. That's why people move into cities, not just because of jobs. Think hospitals, shopping, culture, friends, child care, inspiration, work, face-to-face interaction, play, love. Unless you find a cost-efficient way to decentralize all of this, people will be attracted to each other.
klipt 11y ago
> People move into a few big cities because companies companies like Google congregate there Actually in big cities like New York, Google's office doesn't make a dent - most Googlers can just take the subway. The Mountain View office is only 4 times bigger, but because Mountain View wants to be a suburb and not a city, it now enjoys gridlocked roads every day.
filiwickers 11y ago
Most of that doubling will not be in the US (or other developed countries). It will mostly be in India & China with Africa following not far behind.

by chvid 11y ago

apendleton 11y ago

Are you suggesting that an industry driving people into cities is new? It isn't. It goes all the way back to the industrial revolution, and the main alternative before us at present (suburban living) only dates back to the '50s. And it's not a panacea: the car-oriented nature of suburban life is environmentally pretty terrible (not to mention that detached single-family dwellings are less efficient to climate control, and more expensive to provide services to for municipalities). And suburban life brings with it the long commute, the length of which is a better predictor of happiness (negatively, of course) than almost any other demographic factor, including income, marital status, house size, or any of the other things people think make their hour and change in a car every day worth it.

manacit 11y ago

I doubt I'm in the minority here when I say I wouldn't move to a 'specialized and remote' community inhabited by people who are all affiliated with the same company. I don't live to work, and I don't want to be surrounded solely by people who are affiliated with the company I work for. While one of the reasons I live in Manhattan is because the job market is very good, I also enjoy it precisely because there is diversity. I can walk down the street or take the train and see hundreds of people working hundreds of different jobs in dozens of industries. That's why people are moving to cities - they're exciting. There's things to do and people to meet.

stephenr 11y ago
> I wouldn't move to a 'specialized and remote' community inhabited by people who are all affiliated with the same company. Re-read the sentence again. > By altering their way of working they could support remote working, creating clusters of specialized work forces and communities online rather than in a narrow physical location. The concept is that if you encourage remote working via online workplaces, you can solve the "big city" issue for a percentage of the population by allowing them to live further away from the densely populated areas "because of work".
- paganel 11y ago
  > The concept is that if you encourage remote working via online workplaces, you can solve the "big city" issue for a percentage of the population by allowing them to live further away from the densely populated areas "because of work". But then again some of us really don't like to work all alone in our house, in the middle of nowhere. If I'm spending 8 hours per day working for my employer I might as well socialize while doing that, not living life like a hermit.
  - stephenr 11y ago
    When did living outside a city become "living life like a hermit"?
    - paganel 11y ago
      Can I ride a bus/affordable taxi back home at 11PM after having a couple of beers in a pub located downtown? If you're living outside a city the answer to this is in most cases a "no".
      - stephenr 11y ago
        That depends entirely on the situation, and "affordable" is a relative term. Also, the term "downtown" seems to indicate you're still thinking in terms of a reasonable size city.

vlasev 11y ago

If you look at settlements from a scaling point of view you will inevitably find that not only are larger cities more efficient structures but they lead to an improved quality of life. This is not just because of "companies like Google". Here are some slides (http://www.complexcity.info/files/2011/12/BATTY-Scaling-Laws-For-Cities.pdf http://www.complexcity.info/files/2011/12/BATTY-Scaling-Laws...) and a TED talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyCY6mjWOPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyCY6mjWOPc).

filiwickers 11y ago
Yes, large cities make humans more productive! It's not necessarily intuitive but more interactions leads to more innovations. (Shameless Plug) You can read a bit more about the research in the TED talk here: http://santafe.edu/research/cities-scaling-and-sustainability/ http://santafe.edu/research/cities-scaling-and-sustainabilit... Our research group (started by Geoffrey West & Luis Bettencourt) is also trying to understand (and help address) the issues of growing cities in the developing world, where the biggest issue are slums: http://santafe.edu/research/informal-settlements/ http://santafe.edu/research/informal-settlements/

relet 11y ago

Living space and roads are severely limited resources, but in most cases the proximity to resources is more important. That's why people move into cities, not just because of jobs. Think hospitals, shopping, culture, friends, child care, inspiration, work, face-to-face interaction, play, love. Unless you find a cost-efficient way to decentralize all of this, people will be attracted to each other.

klipt 11y ago

> People move into a few big cities because companies companies like Google congregate there Actually in big cities like New York, Google's office doesn't make a dent - most Googlers can just take the subway. The Mountain View office is only 4 times bigger, but because Mountain View wants to be a suburb and not a city, it now enjoys gridlocked roads every day.

filiwickers 11y ago

Most of that doubling will not be in the US (or other developed countries). It will mostly be in India & China with Africa following not far behind.