Coworking WellLearning from and with Coworking & Coliving Spaces

Vanessa Gennarelli H175 Gardner Good Work @mozzadrella

What’s Coworking?“Coworking” was coined by engineer Brad Neuberg in 2005 to describe the first shared space for remote workers

Image credit: Andreas Dantz

7 years later, 1,800 coworking spaces exist

Image credit: Deskmag.com

What’s Coworking?

Who are “coworkers”?Usually share values *and* physical spacesDemographics trend towards remote workers, knowledge workers, and small startupsSome spaces have a targeted audience (i.e. tech), others welcome workers of all sorts

Image credit: Ben Leuner

Full Disclosure...I’m an ardent coworker

Evidence:

Indyhall (Philadelphia): 2010-2011

Workbar (Boston): 2011

New Work City (New York): 2012-present

I care about creating spaces for people to share and grow

Research Question

No two coworking spaces are the same, but some nurture engaging, excellent and ethical work

Can we demonstrate if and how coworking spaces expand human potential via Good Work?

Lessons learned will be applied to a future coliving community

Methods & Current Status

7 interviews of coworking and coliving space founders and employees

Site visits of 5 different coworking spaces

Emic coding system

6/7 interviews transcribed and coded

Findings

Horizontal Interactions: Designing for Human Growth

Recruitment and Onboarding

“Opt-in” vs. “Screening” (and impact on diversity)

Socialization of new members

Space arrangement

Findings

Trust: Discipline and Governance

“Top-down” versus “emergent” governance

What actions are violations against the community

Frequency of violations against community norms

Discussion

Origin: People vs. Space

Push vs. Pull Culture

Diversity and personal growth

Next steps

Code one interview, another this week

Discussion--what does this mean for the design of a new space?

Collate stories of people’s personal and professional growth

Question to class--what is most interesting?