Cities to see population fall as connectivity matures

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The UK population map is going to look somewhat different in the future as connectivity maturation sees more people heading elsewhere in the country to live and work.

So claims Orange’s ‘Connected Britain’ report, published this week, which predicts that London, Scotland and the South West will see an increase of 40, 58 and 158 per cent respectively by 2015 if the internet access aims outlined by the government’s Digital Britain vision are realised.

As workers move away from currently congested cities to more rural areas where they can perhaps work from home, places like Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester could see their resident headcounts fall by as much as 80 per cent, according to the report.

“Universal connectivity is already having a huge impact on our lives. Our research shows that already 39 per cent of people are able to work some or all of the time from a location of their choice and employees are increasingly realising that they can be just as productive working from home or on the move,” said Orange futurologist James Bellini in a statement.

“As connectivity across Britain increases, so too will mobile working, making the traditional office almost obsolete. In fact, by 2020, a successful and forward-looking business will have no HQ, probably no CEO and only a fraction of the fixed assets it has today.”

The location shifts will have big impacts on both local industries and the property market, according to Orange.

“Much like the industrial revolution, the digital revolution we are currently going through will forever change the way we all lead our lives,” added Robert Ainger, Orange UK’s director of corporate marketing, in a statement.

“Not just from a social perspective, but the way we work and the places we can work from. The long-entrenched domination of the South East in Britain’s economic structure could at last be coming to a close, with many workers wanted to trade their city lives to work from more rural and idyllic parts of the country. Our report reveals that a digitally connected country could change the face of Britain as we know it.”

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