National links: Why remote work may not be the future

You might not want to bank on remote work sticking around. Where there are vaccines, tourists will follow. The myths about the interstate highway system that won’t go away.

Remote work is overrated and cities will be back: Jerusalem Demsas interviews Enico Moretti, a labor and urban economics researcher at UC Berkeley, about his assertion that people won’t be working fully remotely in the long run. Moretti says that remote work won’t gut urban centers because the economy creates dense clusters of high productivity workers, and this agglomeration trend will bounce back after the pandemic has subsided. (Jerusalem Demasas | Vox)

Vaccine tourism boosts local revenues: As Americans line up for the COVID-19 vaccine, many residents are traveling far from their homes for a shot, often to small, rural towns. This “vaccine tourism” has been a boon for local hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, and retailers that have been struggling for years and faring even worse during the pandemic. Some places have seen a 20% bump in business. (Daniel Block | The Atlantic)

Interstate highway mythbusting: This in-depth historical analysis traces the origins of federal highway policies, programs, and projects, busting a central myth: that highways were intended as a system of interstate travel until city-dwellers started using them inappropriately within urban areas. Author Sarah Jo Peterson writes that this myth allows policymakers to shrug off the damaging impacts of urban highway construction, particularly on the lives of Black Americans. (Sarah Jo Peterson | The Metropole)

A zero carbon action plan for transportation: Transportation and climate expert Dan Sperling, described as the “godfather of transportation and environmental policy,” argues that while we need to increase the use of electric vehicles, it’s also necessary to reduce vehicle miles traveled, two things that often are at odds with each other. He says in order to reduce emissions, we need to let neighborhoods decide what works best because they’ll all require different solutions. (Andrew Salzberg | Decarbonizing Transportation)

Will telework actually increase driving?: As more people work from home, there is rising concern that the practice will cause more driving, not less. People who work in downtown offices walk to lunch or meetings, while teleworkers often drive to those appointments. As workers move to more remote locations thanks to their ability to work from home, their car trips could increase as well. Rhetoric around telework needs to reflect this reality, instead of being hailed as the panacea for traffic. (David Zipper | Slate)

Alissa Guther contributed to these summaries

Quote of the Week

“Biodiversity exists everywhere, even the smallest urban green spaces provide essential habitats for the most minute of species. If we manage to link those small spaces together, then the potential increases. Fortunately, we are seeing projects emerging in cities around the world that demonstrate the possibilities.”

Amanda Sturgeon in the Guardian discussing how we can rewild our cities one little flower pot or small plot of land at a time.

This week on the podcast, Danielle Arigoni, AARP’s Director of Livable Communities joins the show.