Making decentralisation work
The way we live and work has changed drastically and it has raised many questions about the role of decentralisation in future systems. Will we end up with Start-up Societies and Network States? Rather than a focus on one global city, can the UK be managed as a network of 15,000 (15-minute) cities?
As places and organisations become increasingly decentralised it will have an impact on what the city becomes. Silvia Rivela, workplace strategist and Principal & Co-Founder at DOWE and Cohesionist, sat down to discuss the challenges ahead facing people and places. Rivela is also an architect and found new purpose for her abilities beyond ‘designing buildings’. Shifting her focus to organisations and people, Rivela began using design as a tool to rethink the future of how we work and live.
Right now, many still consider that the workplace as just the office but the reality has so much more to offer how we imagine the future.
Work is what you do and the way you collaborate with others is dictated by a range of factors - location is just one of them. Work has changed from a place that we go, to a thing that we do, giving the access and provision of work [and the places we do it] license to become driven by values, collaboration and innovation.
“The future of work is decentralised because people can now work from anywhere. This will be the future for many companies. However, there are a lot of companies and each has to decide on their own, Spotify is not going to be the same as ING.”
How will this affect the city? Well, everyone has heard about those parts of the city with large office buildings, a few high-end restaurants and the occasional gym, these will be no longer. In order to thrive, future cities will need to put more emphasis on making the city centre a hub for living.
Cities are going to need to reinvent themselves. The ‘old’ city is no longer working and people are leaving cities such as New York and San Francisco to go live and work in other places (the flow of people and businesses leaving the city is known as 'the Donut Effect'). Right now they are moving to Miami or to Atlanta, or to a place where they can earn the same amount of money and live better.
“The people who can afford the rents to live in the city centre are the ones who are choosing to leave the city, but are moving forward to more compact environments. I live in the city centre and I don’t want to walk more than 20 minutes [to do a daily activity].
I’m not moving to another city because I do love Madrid. I love the movement, the the openness, the people and the culture. But it’s true, you have to afford it and it’s not so easy...”
The biggest uncertainty facing current cities is what happens in the centre of those cities because whilst people are moving quickly, organisations are a lot slower to change. Many have leases for several years and no one is yet certain what the impact will be of mass-movement of people. From a design perspective, it is very clear that repurposing will have a much bigger role to play as well as the role of governance and how cities adjust to the rise in new demands for autonomy.
The Canary Islands boasts a special low tax zone (ZEC) that allows companies in different sectors to pay a low corporate tax rate of 4% (compared to the EU average of 22%). Yet the Canary Islands still maintains a particular focus on tourism which accounts for over one third of national GDP. However, economy is starting to change because of a new movement of people working remotely, moving in long-term, create families and making a higher impact on society there. How is society is going to answer back to these changes?
People are moving to new places, paying premium rents or buying property, spending locally and generally raising the cost of living. Locals are facing displacement because they can't afford to pay the same as digital nomads. It's complicated and needs more understanding and cooperation but is #MoreChoice for all a sustainable, long-term solution?