Photo: Roar Paaske / visitdenmark.dk
Implications for policymaking and planning
The latest remote work research implicates the work of planners and policymakers. As Greaves et al. (2024) comment: “These is an onus on those responsible for land use/transport planning and policy to respond to the impacts of this shift [towards remote work practices]” (10). Several academic articles provide explicit policy recommendations based on the research, or otherwise indirectly point to ways in which local, regional, and national decision-makers might respond to the changes. That the pandemic has been classified as a “work-life shock event” (Thulin et al., 2023) suggests it will have ramifications which require both a strategic response and a proactive vision for how our built, social, and economic environments might evolve to guide, encourage, or dispel remote work practices.
Already in 2021, the OECD suggested that, in light of increased remote working practices, governments should:
… establish flexible policies to adapt to changes in settlement patterns, especially with land use and public transport policies as well as the promotion of resource efficiency and circular economy practices among households. The long-term preparedness of local governments and co-ordination policies to improve structural attractiveness and factors for development (including energy efficiency) of all regions is of chief importance for benefiting any future scenario. (OECD, 2021)
Box 8 highlights policy and planning recommendations discussed in the academic literature, while the text below elaborates on these points in parallel with the previous reports published during the Remote work and multilocality post-pandemic project. Despite the segmented list, policies should also be cross-sectoral in nature. In the coming years, it will be important for planners and policymakers in the Nordic Region to consider how remote work strategies can align with achieving the goals to become the most sustainable and integrated region as outlined in the Nordic Vision 2030.
- Consider developing a transport policy bundle in which remote work is one strategy connected with other policies (e.g., congestion pricing, parking costs, crowd-pricing in public transport, transit-oriented development, developing a jobs-housing balance, developing high quality Mobility as a Service (MaaS) systems, offering mobility sharing). Integration of mobility and the organisation of the built environment is key. The specific bundle of policies should depend on the needs, interests, and context of the municipality/region.
- Safeguard public transport as a form of sustainable mobility given that remote work opportunities may prevent ridership from returning to economically sustainable numbers.
- Promote sustainable regional transport by encouraging transit-oriented development. Regional transport policy should also enable active mobility for hybrid commuters who have relocated to outer urban areas but maintain the need to visit centrally located offices. The research suggests that, for those who can work remotely in urban areas, people are likely to stay within the vicinity of the major city due to agglomeration effects. To prevent urban sprawl, new development in outer urban areas should be encouraged along transport lines and organised in ways that can encourage polycentricity in larger cities or nearby the existing town centres in smaller towns and rural areas.
- Enable active mobility through changes in the built environment. This means guiding development that ensures a compact urban form, investing in walking and cycling infrastructure, and providing essential services to residents within a 10 to 15-minute active mobility radius.
- Invest in measures that boost small-town and rural attractiveness. Attractive and relatively affordable housing, as well as qualitative and affordable modes of transport and digital infrastructure are areas of special relevance to remote workers. Although developments are always local, research cautions that many larger cities, university towns, and touristic destinations might retain their agglomeration benefits despite remote work trends, while actors in smaller towns most probably need to have more explicit strategies for their urban cores.
- Consider alternative and flexible uses of real estate, public space, and land use. Changes in demand for office, retail, and housing in urban cores should be surveyed and incorporated into local planning. Larger changes in demand have the potential to adapt the form and function of urban cores. Planners might explore adaptive reuse methods for real estate and public space to maintain attractiveness albeit in new, multi-functional forms. In rural municipalities, this should include providing flexible space in centrally located areas that enables co-working for remote workers. Such third places as crucial to improving attractiveness (also in suburban locations), including potential for transfer of knowledge and ideas.
- Remote work trends have spurred interest in suburban locations close to larger cities. However, planners might consider work-live (or mixed-use) neighbourhoods in cities that are rich in amenities (e.g., public services, diverse housing supply, green spaces) but do not require extensive travelling, which aligns with the 15-minute-city ideals and are already present in many smaller towns. However, development of work-live environments might cause unwanted externalities; therefore, developments should be sustainably anchored so as to prevent creating socially and economically segregated neighbourhoods. To create higher levels of amenities in suburban or distressed areas, strategic planning could identify land which use could be reactivated or amended, for example, into service areas or for residential infill. Land use planning, community engagement, and localised placemaking policy are mentioned as critical in the development.
- There is evidence that neighbourhoods and cities with dense office space, expensive housing, and large employers in the knowledge economy may be highly affected by remote work trends. Policymakers in such areas should consider adaptive strategies that ensure sustainable development.
- Promote a diverse housing supply and housing affordability as these are central in the development of attractive locations for a wider spectrum of citizens.
- Ensure residents have access to high-quality digital infrastructure that supports remote work opportunities, among other services that support a high quality of life. This is particularly important for rural municipalities. Furthermore, national policies might consider providing dedicated support for local initiatives aiming to attract or retain residents, particularly for rural municipalities that may rely on skilled workers from elsewhere.
- Consider those who can and cannot work remotely. Policymakers must account for discrepancies across gender, sector, and socioeconomic status in future policies in order to ensure remote work strategies benefit both those who can and cannot work remotely.
- Review income tax distribution models with the aim of financially compensating municipalities with high proportions of second homes.
- Policymakers working with labour issues should be aware of how different population groups experience flexible work arrangements. This may imply, for example, how housing may be adapted or developed to support different kinds of people who may work from home. It is important to keep in mind that remote workers are a heterogeneous section of the population, and different employees from different sectors may require different kinds of flexible work arrangements (both in terms of work environment and employer agreements). It is therefore important that remote work continues to be arranged through collective agreements and at the individual level among employees and their employers.
New developments in transportation policy
With regards to transportation, both internationally and in the Nordic countries, it is clear that public transport services continue to suffer. This may require increasing state funding to support regional transport systems and/or incentivising ridership for commuting and leisure purposes by maintaining high service levels that make or keep public transport as an efficient and reliable way to move through one’s city or region. It is especially important for public transport authorities to maintain timetables that enable those who cannot work remotely to continue to access their workplaces. Major regions have different approaches for incentivising riders, but long-term strategies remain unclear as hybrid work continues.
While the congestion issues pointed out in studies from other global cities may be less applicable for the Nordic context, the discussion around travel behaviour and active mobility is highly relevant. The academic research suggests that remote work as a transport policy needs to be integrated with other policies such as congestion pricing, parking costs, transit-oriented development, and developing a jobs-housing balance in order to produce sustainable results. However, the specific elements of a transport policy bundle should reflect the local context and unique goals of the municipality and/or region.
Studies show mixed results as to whether or not remote workers travel more or less on the whole than those who do not work remotely (depending on factors such as residential location and non-work related trips); however, remote workers may be more likely to choose active modes of travel for their trips (for leisure, to the office during hybrid work weeks, or to co-working spaces) if the built environment supports such modes. This is important when considering how remote work can play a role in lowering GHG emissions. The increase in remote work during the pandemic showed how limiting mobility can definitively decrease emissions from transport and energy sectors, but some areas may have more potential than others to benefit from these changes, and the offering of and investment in sustainable transport options plays a key role.
Remote work is, in many ways, a mobility behaviour; therefore, local transport policymakers need to consider how policy can guide rather than merely react to changes in commuting practices, home and work locations, and mobility. This may ensure that these new ways of living and working are managed in a sustainable way.
Policy opportunities related to changes in the built environment
When it comes to spatial planning to enable sustainable remote work practices in the future, several key principles stand out from the research, namely that urban environments should be compact, accessible, and attractive. Overall, there is a need for planners to understand the opportunities of, demands for, and flexibility around remote work, where these are manifested spatially in an urban environment, and what kinds of actual and perceived access people have to necessary amenities. Land use planning can then effectively respond to people’s needs while guiding behaviours and daily working practices to happen in environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways.
Though evidence showed some notable changes in migration patterns during the pandemic, with some people moving out of urban centres to outer urban areas and rural areas, research points to continued trends of urbanisation. As of 2024, it is difficult for studies to show whether or not remote work will affect how centrally people choose to live, but in general, research and evidence of continued work in hybrid formats supports the idea that, if people do move, they may more likely remain within commuting distance to office locations.
While some municipalities witnessed reduced demand for office and retail space during the pandemic, research points to the potential of emerging live-work environments, following existing mixed use, sustainable development models. Major urban areas are not likely to experience heavy flows of out-migration. However, due to the two-way effects of remote work, it is possible that such urban areas may have greater numbers of employees who live but do not work locally, or that those living in smaller towns or rural areas may take advantage of employment opportunities in larger urban areas based further away. Though the intensity of these dynamics is still uncertain, they may nonetheless affect individual employees’ mobility patterns and social behaviours. Since studies provide some mixed results as to whether remote workers travel less than non-remote workers, it is important that the urban environment can accommodate efficiency in travel by providing mixed-use neighbourhoods, made accessible by active modes of travel so that residents can link errands within a single trip and/or access multiple services by environmentally friendly means of transportation (e.g., walking, cycling, public transport). In larger cities, this may mean planning for polycentricity, or multi-centred spatial structures.
While agglomeration effects might protect many larger towns and cities from negative impacts of remote work, smaller towns and rural areas need to be strategic by maintaining and developing attractiveness to retain existing populations and to appeal to new residents, including remote workers. In the case of smaller towns and rural centres, these need to be compact, accessible and incorporate attractive features like a varied and relatively affordable housing supply, amenity rich cores, and close access to nature. This might also include measures enabling active mobility and ensuring quality digital infrastructure. Alternative and multi-functional uses of public space and real estate could be incorporated in urban planning to maintain attractiveness and increase adaptability. In rural areas, co-working spaces and other third spaces can play a crucial role in improving attractiveness and in facilitating the transfer of knowledge and ideas among remote workers.
With greater remote work flexibility for many employees since the pandemic, the international and Nordic-based research points to the importance of alternative working spaces outside the home or the traditional office. Co-working spaces, including government-initiated work centres, were more prominently discussed as key for rural areas. Additionally, public spaces, such as libraries, or private spaces like cafés, may enable remote work. How individual employees utilise these spaces depends heavily on the kind of work they conduct as well as their accessibility to such spaces. And how employees travel to such spaces also depends on the transport infrastructure and built environment. To support other social, economic, and environmental benefits, co-working spaces should be located in central, accessible areas of the municipality. This has been exemplified in some regions of Sweden and Iceland even before the pandemic, where dense co-working areas have provided remote workers spaces to collaborate, build social networks, and introduce new businesses. Providing good working conditions and meaningful work opportunities is also a way for smaller towns and rural areas to attract newcomers, in addition to high quality service provision.
The use of alternative spaces for working purposes also challenges existing divisions of land use and functional planning, pointing instead to the need to plan and analyse space according to multiple purposes and greater fluidity. Related to this, housing supply and housing layouts may also be influenced by larger shares of remote work in certain areas. Housing policy could aim to supply affordable living organised in ways that accommodate inhabitants spending more time at home or in their immediate neighbourhood.
Sustainability concerns in remote work policy
Remote work can be a tool for improving work-life balance, but it also has the potential to exacerbate existing inequalities. Policymakers must account for discrepancies across gender and socioeconomic status in future social and economic policies in order to ensure that remote work strategies benefit both those who can and cannot work remotely. For example, the benefits provided by 15-minute-city interventions need to be equally distributed throughout the city or town so as to avoid creating socially segregated neighbourhoods based on factors like income level or ability to work remotely. In rural areas, potential transportation disadvantages, especially of socioeconomic disadvantaged populations, need to be monitored and subject to follow-up policy. Various policies related to public service provision and housing also need to be considered in ways that provide an equitable balance for residents regardless of where they live or work. This is important with regards to digital infrastructure as well as mobility services—both for those who do and do not work remotely. It is always important to keep in mind that the majority of the population in the Nordic countries continue to work on site.
Providing necessary digital infrastructure is a question of equal accessibility as internet connectivity becomes an integral part of daily life and a determinant for equal opportunity. Researchers suggest providing work readiness programmes preparing people already living in rural areas for positions that can be done remotely. According to results from the Nordregio remote work project, while the private sector may play a role in things establishing co-working spaces or developing technologies that enable remote work, the public sector may need to initiate such services in rural municipalities.
A varied and to some extent affordable housing supply has the potential to create inclusive housing markets where households of different sizes, economic capacity and tastes may find housing attractive in relation to their life-situations. In both the international literature and the studies made by Nordregio, attractive housing was pointed out as a main argument for remote workers to stay in smaller settings or move there from cities. The research pointed to the importance of strategies towards achieving inclusive housing markets when creating attractive rural areas, towns and cities.
Remote work practices are part of the work-life balance in the Nordic countries. However, as various municipalities and regions in the Nordics continue to fight issues like climate change, pollution, social segregation, economic decline, and various inequalities, planners and policymakers have the opportunity to evaluate how remote work practices address or exacerbate such concerns. This report has shown various spatial implications of remote work, and these different themes have clear linkages to the goal for the Nordics to become the world’s most sustainable and integrated region. For example, how remote work affects and is affected by transportation or housing will impact goals towards carbon neutrality and social sustainability. However remote work on its own will not intrinsically contribute to the Nordic Vision, and strategies to guide the planning of our built environments and the behaviours within them are crucial for remote work to be a tool that supports the Nordic region’s sustainability goals.