Pavel Bednar, Lukas Danko (p), Lenka Smekalova

Sarah El Attat

Sharing economy is evident among cultural and creative industries (CCI), which are becoming more prevalent for economic and social development of deprived areas and its’ communities. Sharing spaces leads to networking and cooperation of the CCI on both formal and informal levels. Coworking spaces (CWS) denote the idea of developing resilient communities through sharing and living with effect on social and economic activities of creative class that often spread to local or even regional areas. However, there is a lack of awar,eness regarding the CWS and economic viability, liveability and competitiveness. Thus, this paper explores the features of the CCI in CWS in order to gain insight into community–organization–space nexus, along with knowledge interactions and creativity in communities. In-depth interviews with 34 respondents including founders/managers and entrepreneurs were carried out, recorded, transcribed and coded. The Grounded theory was selected in order to present new understandings of the research gap. Results suggest that CWS represent favourable environment to stimulate knowledge sharing and creation through mutual projects, organized by creatives and experienced management. Furthermore, they have ability to retain creative class with opportunities to attract additional creative class and tourism due to frequent cultural and creative events. At least but not last, CWS could be also seen as an effective tool to maintain dialogue and links between the CCI and public authorities with the purpose of smart urban planning. Please see the extended abstract for more detailed information.

Ilaria Mariotti (p), Mina Akhavan

Pavel Bednar

With a rising globalization of the economy and society, the ICT revolution, the new industrial revolution and the makers’ movement, and the current economic downturn, working is becoming less dependent on distance, location and time. These are some of the reasons that have fostered the development and diffusion of new workspaces like coworking spaces. Although this is a new phenomenon, scholars from varied disciplines – geography, sociology, urban planning, business, management, etc.- are showing interest in studying different aspects related to their spatial characteristics, socio-economics patterns, and effects on the urban context. Contributing to the existing literature, this paper aims at exploring the location determinants of coworking spaces, an issue that has been neglected by the literature. By focusing on the 549 CS located in the 103 Italian provinces Italy at the year 2018, the paper aims to investigate the location factors pulling the coworking and the attractiveness of large cities as well as of peripheral and inner areas. The results of the descriptive statistics and econometric analysis underline that this is mainly a urban phenomenon because coworking are knowledge intensive places for creative people. Specifically, the NUTS3 provinces showing higher urbanisation economies, innovation, and an higher share of skilled labour are privilege locations. Besides, it is discussed whether coworking spaces may contribute in fostering the development of peripheral and Inner Areas In Italy.

Amnon Frenkel (p), Tsipi Buchnik

Pavel Bednar

The interrelationship between geographical location and social-economic activity have changed in the last few decades due to the global economy, technological developments, open innovation strategies culture and increasing diversification in the workplace (e.g. a-typical employment, multiple job-holding) (Giddens, 1991; Storper & Scott, 2009; Lechner & Boli, 2014). These developments, and the shift to a knowledge economy, are changing the work market. There has been a substantial increase in self-employed workers in the last two decades due to advanced technologies that change the conventional office infrastructure and substitute it with various alternatives.
Although new communication technologies enable working from everywhere, the need for spatial proximity in the work environment - a locatable workplace where common creative ideas can be developed – remains significant. Recently, in many branches, knowledge-intensive work forms became predominant (Knoben, 2006; Wiedmann, et al., 2013). Furthermore, cities that have always been considered as hotspots for creative work will keep these key functions: being suitable workplaces, as well as residential, cultural, and leisurely.
Since 2005 new forms of workspaces have begun to appear; known as Coworking Spaces "CSs." CSs are increasingly becoming the preferred infrastructure for creating a work environment adapted to knowledge workers. At the same time, research on CSs and their suitability for labor force requirements is sufficiently lacking in depth. The rate of knowledge workers in the world is growing significantly, and a large number of them are freelancer entrepreneurs today. In the near future, a considerable part of the workforce will turn to freelancing for which the CSs is the optimal solution.
This study intends to expand the investigation on CSs focusing on the city of Tel Aviv, a city which has experienced impressive growth of CSs in the past years and is considered as the one of the world’s leading start-up locations.

Christophe Demaziere, Divya Leducq , Sarah El Attat (p)

Pavel Bednar

In this paper, we deal with coworking spaces (CWS) in France and specifically in a non metropolitan region, the Loire Valley. CWS first appeared in France in the centres of large metropolitan areas (and firstly in Paris which is a global city). More recently they spread to the outskirts or even to medium-sized cities and/or rural areas. Is the concept of spatial diffusion at work for many technological or social innovations applicable here? If yes (Liefooghe, 2018), what are the drivers? It is possible that more and more knowledge workers will tend to live in places with a good living environment and to work in places far away from urban centers. However, does the diffusion phenomenon of CWS just follow the urban hierarchy, as the case of some French regions suggests? Or do some sparsely populated rural areas, because of their connectivity or their own potential (to be specified), see the emergence of ‘clusters of CWS’ which could give them an advantage as compared to metropolitan cores? In other words, what is (and what can be) the actual contribution of coworking spaces to the (re) development of non-metropolitan areas?
France is a case of public voluntarism at all spatial levels (the national government, regions, groupings of municipalities…) but it can be questioned whether the policy measures are attuned to the real needs of coworking spaces managers and of coworkers. CWS but also fablabs are confronted with the rigidities of legally-binding comprehensive planning.
The main research questions explored in this paper are as follows: How are new workspaces evolving within a sparsely populated region? And to what extent can they be part of a local/regional development strategy?

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