Telework and its long-term effects ... the questions of the Corona scientist and the answers of sociologists and urbanists

The Corona pandemic brought many changes, including the unprecedented expansion of remote work.

This raised many questions related to creative, social, psychological and even urban aspects.

Professor Vincenzo Romania, professor of sociology at the University of Padua, Italy, says to Al Jazeera Net - that the pandemic "represents a shift in the models of organizing human relations at all relational, collective, economic, cultural and religious levels." This is reflected "at different levels of Importance in different parts of the world, yet some mechanisms are common to all countries and peoples. "

Romania adds that “the issue of contagion is, in fact, a new element, added to social distancing. It affects our interactions and prevents us from conforming to usual rules of behavior.” While in the past in most cultures body language was primarily a matter of symbolic expression of social differences, it has become in time The present carries an increased risk of infection and can become a stigma.

As a result, Romania continues to say that there are important social changes, which will also continue after the end of the epidemic, including "increased digitization of closeness behavior, increased conversion of work interactions into intelligent work interactions, increased social distancing in spaces such as school and work, and increased disdain for certain groups such as ex-prisoners and foreigners And refugees, the privatization of the religious experience and the digitalization of religious communities. "

As for the transition towards smart work, Romania believes that it requires a comprehensive structural transformation that affects the adjustment of the workers' time budget, a change in the prevailing organizational cultures, and finally, a transformation of the relationship between work and urban architecture, considering that these transformations will not be immediate and will require a "broader re-envision." For the social meaning of human action and interactions. "

Telework and its psychological effects

According to Kristen Shockley, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Georgia, who conducted a study for the US National Science Foundation on the psychological effects that remote work has had during the time of the pandemic on a sample of people who changed their traditional work towards working from Yet, this study bears with it interesting things, including that the percentage of those who want to continue working remotely is 100% of the sample.

According to Shockley, the data don't really indicate that people are slacking while working remotely;

The majority either keep their productivity the same or more.

There is an experiment conducted in a call center, in which they found that workers who worked from home made significantly more calls, worked longer hours, and the quality of their calls was equivalent to the quality of their calls in the past, which reinforces the feeling that the efficiency of working from home is also high, because it is far from Tensions in the workplace or spasms of co-workers, Shockley believes that the concept of "office at home" will make a big difference in the quality and comfort of people working remotely.

The Corona pandemic has forced millions of employees to quickly switch to remote work.

However, some organizations and institutions are still not ready to absorb a workforce that works remotely, and employees who have had to move quickly to remote work are exposed to feelings of uncertainty, confusion, and social isolation, as well as the inability to complete some work remotely.

Telework and Urban Design

Architect and academic Ali Abdul-Raouf, a visiting professor at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar, says, “Architects and urban planners should be aware of such new forces that affect the behavior of people around the world, especially the new era of home work. And its spatial and design needs, its production rates, and its economic, environmental and human gains. "

This poses a first problem, according to Ali Abdul Raouf, who added - to Al-Jazeera Net - speaking of “the trick of digital communication and the unprecedented rush to activate social distancing through digital communication,” where “the packages of digital communication programs from Facebook, WhatsApp, Zoom and others shine in a time of isolation, and enable us From holding meetings and even virtual seminars. "

According to Abdul-Raouf, "These programs also facilitate family conversations and chats with friends. Internet technology provides us with rich bouquets of movies and series, even exercise videos and food recipes in order to relieve our isolation and separation, and here we must pay attention to that digital communication should never replace communication." Real social in the spaces of home, work, garden and city. "

And considering that digital platforms played a prominent role as an important communication tool during the epidemic, according to Abdul-Raouf, “this role will continue because it achieves safety, as digital technology allows many to continue managing certain types of companies and operating globally in ways that we could not imagine a generation ago or Two generations, the current crisis has created a push for all types of digital platforms, from distance learning to online shopping. "

In his presentation, Abdel-Raouf offers an alternative to the current formulation of "social distancing", which is being directed now.

Professor Abdel-Raouf's view is that "it should be called physical distancing, not social distancing. In times of crises, especially epidemiological health, it is crazy to move away socially, but it is very acceptable to be physically and physically apart."

Housing and Corona

As for the second problem raised by the architect Abdul Raouf, it is related to “what we are experiencing now from the repercussions of the Corona epidemic, which is understanding and realizing the value of housing and its spaces and the logic of staying in it for hours, days, and weeks that may extend to months without leaving except for a short time every week or two to buy basic needs.” Where "Corona virus made us test our relationship with our homes and is it our housing or are it cold containers to contain us, because the house is made of iron, wood and stones, but love alone is what makes it a home."

The challenges posed by remote work in light of the Corona pandemic are not the first in the world of architecture;

According to Professor Abdul Raouf, "Since the 1970s, there has been a great number of news of the demolition of various housing projects distributed around the world, confirming the rejection of inhuman mechanical architecture that is aesthetically poor and formally boring," considering that there is a revolution against the modernity movement in architecture and urbanism, and "a distinct cry against the idea of ​​molding and the repeated model of the residential building "With a cold mechanism for places that are required to contain within them families, memories, emotions, and the struggle of life - we call them housing - but they are containers for human canning."

To overcome this crisis, Professor Abdel-Raouf reminds us of "Alejandro Aravena, a Chilean architect, winner of the Pritzker Prize in Architecture in 2016 and coordinator of the Venice Biennale of Architecture in the same year, which focuses on the importance of social responsibility, as his architecture philosophy depends on real community engagement and humility before him so that his members contribute without reservation." In the process of designing and planning his dwellings. "

And he continues, "Consider the saying of the late architect Zaha Hadid (I do not think that architecture is only building a shelter, but it should excite and delight you and make you think). And if Winston Churchill’s saying (We form our buildings and then our buildings form us) still arouse our curiosity, it may seem essential. To stop building new capitals and shiny towers in our cities, and to focus on designing and planning housing that accommodates the lives of people who yearn for the warmth of the family and the value of the community and to affirm their humanity and the importance of entertaining them with features of beauty and sophistication.