What Are the Effects of Remote Work?

Every day at The Overhead Wire we sort through over 1,500 news items about cities and share the best ones with our email list. At the end of the week, we take some of the most popular stories and share them with Urban Milwaukee readers. They are national (or international) links, sometimes entertaining and sometimes absurd, but hopefully useful.

The effects of remote work: Three years after the start of a global pandemic, we’re beginning to see patterns emerge surrounding the effects of work from home policies. Productivity studies are all over the map and depend on the arrangement and management of workers, working moms appreciate the flexibility but advancement prospects have become more limited, and downtown businesses are suffering from the lack of buzz and office workers. (Emma Goldberg | New York Times)

Pandemic changed the commute: New research from the University of Minnesota’s Accessibility Observatory suggest that pandemic restrictions reduced limits on access significantly by getting rid of peak traffic congestion. The typical worker in Atlanta for example could reach 82% more jobs in 2021, Houston 50% more. These changes in traffic behavior show how it is possible to increase the usefulness of the existing transportation system. (University of Minnesota News)

When we design for autism, design for everyone: Magda Mostafa, autism design consultant and architecture professor at the American University in Cairo, discusses how she sees design for autism and how they put together design index that give people tools to support neurodivergent design. In the index there are seven architectural notions/criteria that can help not just children, but adults who are on the spectrum. (Jaxson Stone & Magda Mostafa | Metropolis Magazine)

Starter cars going the way of starter houses: The price of the lowest cost car is now just around $20,000 but several years ago there were several models people could purchase for under that amount. It’s not rules and regulation but car companies are deciding that higher priced models are more profitable and have stopped manufacturing their low cost options. America’s land use regime often requires cars, now it’s more expensive to participate. (Addison Del Mastro | Discourse)

Utilities fear rooftop solar: At a recent hearing in the State of Arizona, the expert witness for a public utility agreed that public utilities are worried about rooftop solar because it cuts into profits. This is one of the first times this has been admitted as public utilities often say nice things about rooftop solar but cap total installations. In the transition to clean energy, a mix of sources including rooftop solar will be needed. (Dan Gearino | Mother Jones)

Quote of the Week

A person with a one-hour commute to work has to earn 40% more money to be as satisfied as someone who walks. At the same time, shifting from a long commute to a short walk would make a single person as happy as if he or she had found a new love.

–Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer, economists at the University of Zurich quoted by Inside Hook discussing benefits of walking commutes.

This week on the podcast, Kari Watkins and Dave Ederer to talk about their paper The Safe Systems Pyramid: A New Framework for Traffic Safety.

Want more links to read? Visit The Overhead Wire and signup.