The problem with trying to carpool is that the majority of your neighbors don't follow your same schedule.
Communities should be established encircling large office towers. The difference is that no one company can own more than a floor or a few cubicles, and the entire community has no roads other than bike paths.
All work normally concentrated to a single corporate office will be completed by satellite communities effectively eliminating the commute, as all privately owned housing for each tower will be within a 30-45 minute bike ride. Unfit people can live closer to the towers.
The numerous company's that have bought/rent space in this melting-office can pool money to hire the appropriate number of general staff to make sure everything runs smoothly: mainly by ordering paper when the copier is low or by making coffee. The workers know their responsibilities and should be able to take care of their own tasks.
The creative bonuses are immense as professionals from different fields are able to engage socially in a work atmosphere as never before. However intellectual security risk's would double with the competition just a few floors away; this will also boost innovation and productivity.
This model should apply to as many new subdivisions begin developed today now further and further from the working core of the large cities than ever before.-- johnbakersmon, Aug 30 2008 Tough to change jobs, though.-- phoenix, Aug 30 2008 If this were done, i would want the employer to be entirely egalitarian. Otherwise, it's like the company owns your life to an even greater extent than it does now. It would also have to be heart work rather than just a job, that is, something to which one can commit utterly without losing meaning or an ultimate aim. Given those two provisos, it could work.-- nineteenthly, Aug 30 2008 The company would not own the housing, except to maybe sell the development, the idea is to work at home but still be in an office setting.
The problem with working at home is that you are isolated and not in a working environment, a community office could be the answer.-- johnbakersmon, Aug 30 2008 random, halfbakery