Telecommunications and Organizational Decentralization

In recent years, several phenomena have caused significant pressures on the traditional, centralized urban structure. These phenomena include urban sprawl, separation of business and residential areas and concomitant dependence on transportation, the absence of effective or widespread mass transit, and declining oil reserves with rising energy costs. These conditions have made decentralization more attractive to many large organizations currently located in the central business districts (CBD's) of major urban areas. The increasing availability of sophisticated communications and computer technologies may encourage the continued growth and future decentralization of "information industries," thereby producing major urban changes. The telecommunicationsaugmented decentralization of a traditional, centralized organization to a diffused one with an intraorganizational telecommunications network is described. The key factors in this process are discussed: 1) the ability of new telecommunications and computer technologies to maintain or increase productivity for routine clerical and management functions, 2) their availability, and 3) their costs relative to urban transportation systems. Telecommunications-augmented decentralization can have significant impacts on transportation, telecommunications, labor, and land-use policies; specific areas of impact are discussed.