Coworking: Innovation Spaces and Value Creation

Evolution in technology and society needs to be accompanied by models that are able to support change instead of limiting it. The coworking phenomenon stands as a natural consequence to the development of new economies and new professions, that require different physical and conceptual spaces. As progress requires innovation, persons in all their juridical forms try to chase it not to be left behind. Coworking spaces are in effect clusters of innovation, due to a whole set of features, not only in spatial regards, but under aspects that are always human-related at different scales and dimensions. The possible enabling of innovation is just one of the consequences of such spaces, that are therefore analysed under a perspective of value creation, defined as the intrinsic potential of a thing, not only thought as good or service, to generate a positive impact on the objects it is in contact with and eventually on its surroundings. To conduct an analysis on the phenomenon, it is not possible to ignore the whole framework that it is inserted in. Separation of knowledge that has happened in time due to didactic settings is hereby questioned, therefore the subject is not limited to a pure architectural view, but it also explores the fields of urbanism, sociality, economics and finance. Each of these spheres are not examined in absolute isolation from each other, but try to frame the scenario as a whole, interacting with each other, as they actually do in the real world. To do this, firstly an interpretation of existing literature is pursued to understand what the academic framework has investigated and asserted so far. Based upon the derived conceptual context, an analysis is conducted upon specific players in the coworking industry headquartered respectively in the USA, in Europe and in China, to prove or disprove conceptual issues in reality, following the underlying thread of value and its creation.