*This article is originally posted at Wikipedia: Coworking.
Coworking
Coworking is defined in one trade magazine for coworking companies as a self-directed, collaborative, flexible and voluntary work style that is based on mutual trust and the sharing of common core values between its participants.[1] Coworking involves a shared workplace, often an office, and independent activity. Unlike in a typical office, those coworking are usually not employed by the same organization. Typically, it is attractive to work-at-homeprofessionals, independent contractors, independent scientists or people who travel frequently who end up working in relative isolation.[2] Coworking is a social gathering of a group of people who are still working independently, but who share values[3] and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with people who value working in the same place alongside each other.[4] Coworking offers a solution to the problem of isolation that many freelancers experience while working at home, while at the same time letting them escape the distractions of home. It generally costs money in the form of membership dues, though some spaces are free of charge.
TYPE
Coworking is not only about the physical place, but about establishing a community. Indeed, its rapid growth has been seen as a possible way for city planners to address the decline of high street retail in urban centres.[5] Its benefits can already be experienced outside of the physical spaces, and it is recommended to start with building a coworking community first before considering opening a Coworking place.[6] However, some coworking places don’t build a community; they just get a part of an existing one by combining their opening with an event which attracts their target group.[7]
Real-estate centric coworking spaces are about selling desks first, with building community as a secondary goal. Players target freelance professionals, remote workers, and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) who need a space and seek a community with a collaborative spirit. Customers also often benefit from professional services such as printing or incorporation or consulting.[8]
Coworking is distinct from business accelerators, incubators and executive suites.[9] These spaces do not fit into the coworking model because they often miss the social, collaborative, and informal aspects of the process. In coworking, management practices are closer to that of a cooperative, including a focus on community[10] rather than profit.[11] Many[weasel words] of the coworking participants are also participants in an unconference like BarCamp[12] and other related open-source participatory technology events.[13][14]
History
Between 2006 and 2015, a few studies have shown the number of coworking spaces and available seats have roughly doubled each year.[15]
Brad Neuberg is credited with starting the coworking movement in San Francisco in 2005 with the idea to combine the independence of freelancing with the structure and community of an office space. To do this, he invented the word “coworking” with no hyphen.[16] Coworking as we experience it today was preceded by European hacker spaces of the 1990s, where programmers would exchange skills and best practices.[17]
Some coworking places[18] were developed by nomadic Internet entrepreneurs seeking an alternative to working in coffee shops and cafes, or to isolation in independent or home offices.[19] A 2007 survey showed many employees worry about feeling isolated and losing human interaction if they were to telecommute. Roughly a third of private-sector and public-sector workers also reported that they did not want to stay at home during work. Another major factor that drives demand for coworking is the growing role of independent workers.[20]
In North America
Since Neuberg started the coworking movement in 2005, San Francisco continues to have a large presence in the coworking community and is home to a growing number of coworking spaces.[40] Also in the Bay Area, Anca Mosoiu established Tech Liminal in 2009, a coworking place in Oakland.[41]
The coworking model for office space is extremely popular in Miami. In fact, a 2018 study done by Yardi Matrix, recognized Miami as the US city with most co-working spaces per square foot.[42]Coworking has also spread into many other metropolitan areas, with cities such as Seattle, Washington,[43] Portland, Oregon,[44][45] Toronto,[46] and Wichita, Kansas[47] now offering several coworking venues.
The New York coworking community has also been evolving rapidly in places like Regus and Rockefeller Group Business Center. Several new startups like WeWork have been expanding all over the city. The demand for coworking in Brooklyn neighborhoods is high due to the rise in the millenial workforce; nearly one in 10 workers in the Gowanus area work from home.[48] The industrial area of Gowanus is seeing a surge in new startups that are redesigning old buildings into new coworking spaces.[49] In Brooklyn, in 2008, the first green-focused coworking space in the US, called Green Spaces, was founded by Jennie Nevin, and it expanded in 2009 to Manhattan and Denver and has been a driving force for green entrepreneurship through the collaboration of coworking.[50]
New models of coworking that go beyond the original concept of shared office space have also been established. For example, Work and Play in South Orange has onsite childcare for entrepreneurial parents[51] and CoWorking With Wisdom in Berkeley combines coworking with yoga, meditation and mindfulness programs.[52]
* To view our membership for Kauai coworking space, please click here.
