Factoring teleworkers into urban design

Now that I've become a full-time teleworker, one thing I don't miss at all is the daily commute to work. I've never been someone who likes driving, so giving it up was easy.

I'm not alone. Zero commute is a familiar telework benefit - not just for the employee who stays home, but also for other commuters on the road who benefit from decreased traffic congestion. Research that attempts to quantify just how much congestion relief could be expected seems scarce, but a Washington Post article published last year cites Laurie Schintler, a George Mason University assistant professor, who estimates traffic delays in the Washington, D.C. region drop 10% for every 3% of commuters who work from home.

That stat got me thinking: What if someone took the research one step further and studied the effect of increased telecommuting on neighborhoods? If more people are working from home, does that change the neighborhood dynamic?

Even after just a limited time as a teleworker, I'd say yes. On my block alone I know of two other people who work full time from their homes. One has a sales job, and the other is a public relations consultant with clients around the country. When the overnight delivery people stop their trucks on the street outside my door, I no longer assume it's a delivery for me - like I did when I first started working from home. It's more often for one of my neighbors across the street.

To continue reading, register here to become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Now that I've become a full-time teleworker, one thing I don't miss at all is the daily commute to work. I've never been someone who likes driving, so giving it up was easy.

I'm not alone. Zero commute is a familiar telework benefit - not just for the employee who stays home, but also for other commuters on the road who benefit from decreased traffic congestion. Research that attempts to quantify just how much congestion relief could be expected seems scarce, but a Washington Post article published last year cites Laurie Schintler, a George Mason University assistant professor, who estimates traffic delays in the Washington, D.C. region drop 10% for every 3% of commuters who work from home.

That stat got me thinking: What if someone took the research one step further and studied the effect of increased telecommuting on neighborhoods? If more people are working from home, does that change the neighborhood dynamic?

Even after just a limited time as a teleworker, I'd say yes. On my block alone I know of two other people who work full time from their homes. One has a sales job, and the other is a public relations consultant with clients around the country. When the overnight delivery people stop their trucks on the street outside my door, I no longer assume it's a delivery for me - like I did when I first started working from home. It's more often for one of my neighbors across the street.

Knowing there are doors I can knock on if I need someone, whether it's to borrow printer paper or take a coffee break, makes me feel less isolated as a teleworker. For me, one of the nice things about having fellow teleworkers nearby is the opportunity to go out to lunch on occasion. Lunching with coworkers is one of the things I miss most about working in our corporate office. If I get really ambitious, I could even schedule exercise time with my work-from-home PR neighbor. She's asked me in the past if I'd like to take a break during the day and walk with her. I like the idea of getting out and taking a walk during the day, now I just have to go ahead and find the discipline to do it.

If other teleworkers around the country are likewise lunching, exercising and taking deliveries in their neighborhoods, does that make suburbs, subdivisions and side streets more dynamic that they used to be during daylight hours? And will residential and urban planners begin to factor these conditions into their design plans?

I've had an interest in urban design since I was an architecture major in college. It's been 15 years since I graduated, but I remember learning about the latest wave of planned communities that began to crop up in the 1980s and balance traditional-style houses laid out in proximity to downtown-like amenities, such as a post office, grocery store, restaurants and public transportation.

These pedestrian-friendly communities were conceived of as sort of the anti-Levittowns. Built in the 1950s in response to post-World War II housing shortages, Levittown came to epitomize the American suburb with its simple, mass-produced houses laid out on a tract of land on Long Island, N.Y.