A modern look at coworking

Coworking “is the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share values and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space.” This Urban Omnibus article Work and the Open Source City takes a contemporary look at coworking today. The two main types that are emerging…

The permanent coworking space – You can find a list here of the hundreds of permanent coworking sites around the world, typically run as a business by creatives who wanted to be surrounded by like-minded people during the day. See upper photo above of the Treehouse in NYC by Matt Tyson.

Jelly – It started off as a brand name, but it’s quickly becoming known as a generic term for a periodic one-day coworking gathering at either a person’s home or venue with wi-fi. See lower photo above of a Jelly at Panera Bread by Laura Forlano. The Treehouse, mentioned earlier, even hosts Jellys from time to time to let the public try out the space for free.

What is not associated with coworking are the random crowds of free agents that gather at wi-fi cafes, where there is practically no social interaction and definitely no identifiable sense of community.

The takeaway from the Urban Omnibus article is that a positive coworking community is increasingly becoming a larger factor for people in choosing where to live.

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