Coworking spaces

In 2005, software engineer Brad Neuberg opened the first named coworking space at Spiral Muse, a feminist collective in San Francisco's Mission district.1 The space offered a handful of desks two days a week, shared lunches, and a strict closing time. Within two years, roughly 75 coworking spaces were operating around the world.

The coworking space model operates on a premise that the traditional office rejects. Membership, not employment, grants access. Workers choose their location based on preference, proximity, or community rather than the address assigned by an employer.

The industry grew from fewer than one hundred spaces in 2007 to more than 35,000 by the early 2020s, spread across more than one hundred countries.2 The adoption of remote work after 2020 accelerated demand for flexible workspaces as companies reconsidered the cost of maintaining permanent central offices.

Research published in the Harvard Business Review found that members of coworking spaces reported higher levels of thriving than traditional office workers. The researchers attributed this to three factors: workers felt their work was meaningful, they had more control over their schedule, and they experienced a sense of community without the politics of a shared employer.3

The most successful spaces function as ecosystems where introductions, partnerships, and collaborations emerge organically from physical proximity.3 The economic model varies across the industry, from monthly memberships and daily passes to dedicated desks and private offices within shared buildings.

Governments have begun adapting to the model. South Korea's Seoul Metropolitan Government funded public coworking hubs, including Seoul Startup Hub, offering startups free office space, mentorship, and business resources.4 Estonia's digital nomad visa, introduced in 2020, allowed remote workers to live in the country for up to a year while working for foreign employers.5