Building new places of the creative economy. The rise of coworking spaces

摘要

The late 2000s have seen the emergence of a new kind of workplace: the coworking space. As of February 2013, 2500 spaces had been identified worldwide. This paper endeavors to situate the phenomenon within the existing theory of the creative, urban economy, and to serve as a platform for discussion and further research. Coworking spaces (CS) are regarded as "serendipity accelerators", designed to host creative people and entrepreneurs who endeavor to break isolation and to find a convivial environment that favors meetings and collaboration. At the beginning of the movement, CS creations were purely private initiatives. The concept has since attracted the interest of media, and CS have been incorporated in larger public programs aimed at the making of the "creative city", which often materializes in the regeneration of decayed industrial neighborhoods. CS are the outcome of the blurring of the frontiers and hybridization processes between technological, economic and social categories. Even if their sustainability and growth potential deserve to be questioned, they are strongly anchored in the workplace landscape of major business cities.