2017/01/16 by Julian Waters-Lynch, Jason Potts
Business, Management and Accounting · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Consumer Retail Behavior Studies #Cultural Industries and Urban Development #Facilities and Workplace Management
paper · doi:10.1080/00346764.2016.1269938
crossref issued 2017/01/16 · crossref published 2017/01/16 · crossref published-online 2017/01/16 · openalex publication_date 2017/01/16 · crossref created 2017/01/17 · crossref published-print 2017/10/02 · crossref deposited 2019/09/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Coworking spaces are a rapid growing feature of modern cities, and increasingly popular with freelancers, knowledge workers, start-up communities, and others engaged in non-standard creative urban work. Drawing on ethnographic data gathered in a large case study of coworking spaces in Australia, we develop an economic model of an important aspect of coworking spaces in which a coworking space is a Schelling point. This argues that the main margin of value a coworking space provides is not price competition with serviced offices, or a more pleasant environment than working at home, but as a focal (Schelling) point for finding people, ideas and other resources when you lack the information necessary for coordination. Drawing on ethnographic research, we test some specific predictions the model makes about the organizational and institutional form of successful coworking spaces.