  Many studies of the effect of remote work on travel demand assume that remote
work takes place entirely at home. Recent evidence, however, shows that in the
United States, remote workers are choosing to spend approximately one third of
their remote work hours outside of the home at cafes, co-working spaces or the
homes of friends and family. Commutes to these "third places" could offset much
of the reduction in congestion and carbon emissions from commuting that could
be expected from greater shares of remote work. To estimate the impact of third
places on congestion and carbon emission from commuting, this study uses a
national survey of thousands of remote workers and large-scale mobile trace
data to predict current and future commuting patterns for the Chicago
metropolitan area. The study reveals that ignoring third places leads to an
underestimation of carbon emissions from commute-based travel demand by 470
gigatons per year, or 24% of the total true emissions. Moreover, if workers'
latent desire for greater levels of remote work are realized in the future, the
emissions benefits will be reduced further. The spatial analyses imply that
there is a decrease in visits to the city center and outskirts, but an increase
in visits to near suburban areas. Implications of these results for urban
transportation and land use policy are discussed.
