 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Communications: The Unseen Infrastructure, Cont.
Freeway congestion now results in clogged wireless phone airways. It is no coincidence that demand for
wireless service within individual cell sites now coincides with localized points of congestion on the highways
and roads. A Sig-alert due to an accident on the freeway will now instantaneously create a spike in demand for
service within the nearest cell. People who are immobilized physically by traffic congestion can now through
the magic of radio waves transport themselves via voice communication to virtually anywhere. In the near
future, video and Internet modems by means of laptops and electronic notebooks will further enhance our
ability to compress time and space.
Wireless communications is the new infrastructure. An invisible net, wireless is unseen. It is fast becoming
society’s mobile arm, a conduit of exchanging data, audio and video information anywhere, anytime while on
the run. Our post-industrial world demands advanced means of exchanging, dissimulating and dispersing
information to meet “just-in-time” and lean production conditions. The knowledge worker is now liberated from
the landline system and has the ability to get more from less: greater connectivity equals increased
production. Personally, I have become unchained from the office phone, which allows me more time in the field
leading to greater productivity. By using wireless more, do we reverse the demand on our transportation
systems? No, it actually increases! Advanced forms of information exchange foster many more “potential
contacts” i.e. more sales, services, movement of goods, etc. As stated in the beginning of this article, humans
are social creatures who yearn to move and communicate. Closing deals often require personal contact to
resolving complex issues, final deal point negotiations and a concluding handshake. Having the ability to make
more contacts creates more face to face meetings thus more demand on the transportation systems. How
much more demand will it create? Due to the lack of hard data and the relatively new subject matter, it is
difficult to determine; but it is certain that auto use will increase. Without considering the effects of wireless or
any other peripheral influences, the Orange County Transit Authority predicts that the freeway and road
improvements from Measure M will be negated by 2015 due to population increases and job growth. Demand
will surpass capacity as it did in the 1980’s, a point that strengthens the call for multi-modal solutions as a
supplement to the auto.
Lastly, the important question becomes: what affect will wireless communication have on the urban
morphology? The answer is complex. I believe that in a micro view, wireless systems will marginally effect
transportation demand. But it is these marginal increases that are often overlooked and overload the road
system creating the need for supplements to the automobile transportation system. Our freeways will either
become the space where hyper-movement, hyper-activities (economic) and hyper-proximities all flow together
or end up as mass congestion. From a macro standpoint, I claim that wireless systems in conjunction with
other forms of communications such as faster and cheaper PC’s, increased speed of Internet service and the
completion of fiber optic line trunks and branches will lead us towards a more dispersed (sprawling) urban
landscape. Further advancements in remote connections will further push the edge development away from
the traditional urban center. This is not in any way to discount the renewal of city centers, which for reasons
beyond this discussion have experienced a rebirth; nor am I saying that wireless communications will lead us to
utopia. The message is that we live in a world where many different events in different places take shape
simultaneously. There is room for development at both the center and the periphery; the result is an emerging
“otherness” that allows for more lifestyle choices for a greater range of people.
Freeway congestion now results in clogged wireless phone airways. It is no coincidence that demand for
wireless service within individual cell sites now coincides with localized points of congestion on the highways
and roads. A Sig-alert due to an accident on the freeway will now instantaneously create a spike in demand for
service within the nearest cell. People who are immobilized physically by traffic congestion can now through
the magic of radio waves transport themselves via voice communication to virtually anywhere. In the near
future, video and Internet modems by means of laptops and electronic notebooks will further enhance our
ability to compress time and space.
Wireless communications is the new infrastructure. An invisible net, wireless is unseen. It is fast becoming
society’s mobile arm, a conduit of exchanging data, audio and video information anywhere, anytime while on
the run. Our post-industrial world demands advanced means of exchanging, dissimulating and dispersing
information to meet “just-in-time” and lean production conditions. The knowledge worker is now liberated from
the landline system and has the ability to get more from less: greater connectivity equals increased
production. Personally, I have become unchained from the office phone, which allows me more time in the field
leading to greater productivity. By using wireless more, do we reverse the demand on our transportation
systems? No, it actually increases! Advanced forms of information exchange foster many more “potential
contacts” i.e. more sales, services, movement of goods, etc. As stated in the beginning of this article, humans
are social creatures who yearn to move and communicate. Closing deals often require personal contact to
resolving complex issues, final deal point negotiations and a concluding handshake. Having the ability to make
more contacts creates more face to face meetings thus more demand on the transportation systems. How
much more demand will it create? Due to the lack of hard data and the relatively new subject matter, it is
difficult to determine; but it is certain that auto use will increase. Without considering the effects of wireless or
any other peripheral influences, the Orange County Transit Authority predicts that the freeway and road
improvements from Measure M will be negated by 2015 due to population increases and job growth. Demand
will surpass capacity as it did in the 1980’s, a point that strengthens the call for multi-modal solutions as a
supplement to the auto.
Lastly, the important question becomes: what affect will wireless communication have on the urban
morphology? The answer is complex. I believe that in a micro view, wireless systems will marginally effect
transportation demand. But it is these marginal increases that are often overlooked and overload the road
system creating the need for supplements to the automobile transportation system. Our freeways will either
become the space where hyper-movement, hyper-activities (economic) and hyper-proximities all flow together
or end up as mass congestion. From a macro standpoint, I claim that wireless systems in conjunction with
other forms of communications such as faster and cheaper PC’s, increased speed of Internet service and the
completion of fiber optic line trunks and branches will lead us towards a more dispersed (sprawling) urban
landscape. Further advancements in remote connections will further push the edge development away from
the traditional urban center. This is not in any way to discount the renewal of city centers, which for reasons
beyond this discussion have experienced a rebirth; nor am I saying that wireless communications will lead us to
utopia. The message is that we live in a world where many different events in different places take shape
simultaneously. There is room for development at both the center and the periphery; the result is an emerging
“otherness” that allows for more lifestyle choices for a greater range of people.
 | |  |