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Long live coworking!
oworking is a relatively new and rapidly developing concept. Quite frequently we stumble upon the term in discussions regarding new forms of work, as it radiates from the embossed titles of corporate articles, striving to find its place in the system. The term is also often included in strategic employment documents. Yet, the concept of coworking that spontaneously arose almost two decades ago is much more substantial. At its core, coworking represents a community of individuals who independently, or in small groups, share their workspace, knowledge and resources, while simultaneously supporting one another. The coworking model is an alternative method of work, which empowers the self-employed through networking and collaboration, who are then able to implement their projects on a high-quality level.
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Coworking emerged as a response to the ever-growing number of self-employed workers and flexible forms of employment, acting as a solution to the pressing problems of the mostly younger, economically active population of our municipality, state and continent. This booklet aims to provide a fact-based overview of the basic theoretical knowledge, while outlining the evolution of coworking culture, communities and spaces in the region of Ljubljana. This text is intended for all who want to familiarize themselves with the concept of coworking and perhaps someday put it into practice. It can also serve as a reference to all types of visionaries who are exploring modes to efficiently support and develop this innovative model of work on a systematic level. Viva coworking! Viva collaboration! Marko and Eva
2/ THEORY:
Coworking as a model for the revitalization of contemporary work culture
or the last several years, the media has been oversaturated with content providing in-depth analyses of the ramifications of the global financial crisis and the recession that followed. In 2008 and 2009, the utterly shaken financial markets precipitated profound changes to the labour market (Helleiner, 2011). Numerous companies were forced to restructure themselves and reorganize their activities in order to reduce costs. Numerous workers were made redundant, but the labour market was unable to reallocate the next wave of job seekers, mainly due to inflexibility and lack of innovation. These factors prompted an increase in unemployment on one hand, in addition to an ever (more) growing population of self-employed on the other. As a result, a number of global and European countries have therefore initiated the development and implementation of the more or less efficient active employment policy programmes. Parallel to this the number of self-employed, this extremely vulnerable and unprotected group, continues to grow and now represents a new social class, which is dependent on temporary contracts and time-delineated projects.
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The aforementioned trends have been confirmed by statistics, both at home and abroad. The prognosis of the American
Intuit 2020 Report published in 2010 stated that by 2020 this new social class will represent approximately 40 per cent of the active working population. Freelancing in America: A National Survey of the New Workforce (Edelman Berland, 2014) measured that the number of self-employed individuals in the U.S. has risen to represent as much as 34 percent of the whole active working population. A similar situation can be observed in Europe. The Future Working: The Rise of Europe’s Independent Professionals (Leighton in Brown, 2013) survey concludes up to 2013 that the number of self-employed workers in Europe has increased by 14.5 per cent - to 8.9 million people. In Great Britain, in comparison with traditional or steady forms of employment, self-employment grows 4 per cent faster, whilst in the Netherlands they have observed an incredible 92 per cent increase in the last decade (ibid.). In Greece, where the destructive effects of economic recession among the EU countries have been most poignant, self-employment is a reality for almost 32 per cent of the active working population, and in our neighbouring Italy it is a reality for a quarter of the employed (ibid.). The latest data of The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (2015) shows that we are witnessing a comparable trend as in other European countries. Up to the second
half of 2015, in comparison with 2008, the number of self-employed (the quaternary sector is taken into account and farmers are excluded) has risen by 21.1 per cent. In 2008 there were a little over 55 thousand and today there are more than 66 thousand self-employed people (Rupar, 2015). Due to this dramatic expansion of self-employment, the notion of a permanent working space (secondary living space) lost its unambiguous definition (Merkel, 2015). Self-employed individuals, who work for one or several contracting authorities normally opt to work at home (Laing, 2013). The accelerated development of technology has enabled receiving, processing and sharing information at home a viable option and has transformed the once primary living space into a working environment. The concomitant advantage and disadvantage of this phenomenon is that today more and more individuals are able to allocate their working hours independently and freely distribute their work activities. Yet, at the same time, the boundaries between formal and informal start to become unclear (ibid.). By working at home, individuals risk social isolation, which in return can lessen the degree of efficiency and creativity necessary for the flexibility of the work processes (Orel, 2014). In theory and in practice, discussions on how to upgrade the traditional working environment in order to meet the requirements of contemporary work forms have become more noteworthy. One of the new and promising working methods is coworking, concurrently uniting
several levels, which are: The organizational environment (workspace), the organizational culture (the elements and values required by workers are embedded into a certain temporary or permanent coworking environment) and the community (diverse networks comprised of individuals). The foundation of coworking is the establishment of an open platform, which represents a permanent or temporary working environment without limitations regarding the qualification, profile orientation, interests, or age of the individuals (Schuermann, 2014). The community -based on the values of cooperation, mutual help and knowledge sharing- is at the forefront. The representative coworking space is an open space providing shared use of the surface area in the form of fixed or flexible working posts, and a diverse range of offices and other amenities that provide the means for high-quality execution of work assignments. One of the main ingredients of coworking culture is spontaneous or moderated activities, which serve to promote networks and the formation of social networks. Quite commonly, coworking is mistaken for the shared desk model, which aims solely to provide a shared physical working environment. Based on terminology, coworking is erroneously equated with co-working, which merely denominates the links formed amongst individuals working in a specific organization (e.g. the employees of a certain company) in a traditional office environment. The first detailed Slovenian study of the
concepts and terms of coworking is The status and potential of coworking in Slovenia1 (2015). It provides the first instance where the different concepts of coworking in theory and practice are comprehensively explained. It also identifies the improper uses and applications of the concept. The key definitions are listed in the terminological glossary.
— Glossary of the key terms Coworking
A contemporary concept defining a group of individuals from diverse professions who operate autonomously (are self-employed) or under the auspices of a specific organization, who also share their work space with the aim of the highquality implementation of business and/or socially beneficial objectives. The motivations for coworking are varied, such as the mitigation of social isolation, the increase of professional exchange, the optimization of the independent or collective working process, space and integration with other individuals. Coworking culture
Based on collaboration, support and knowledge sharing. At the
forefront is the guiding principle of a collective consciousness, based either on predetermined or on organically evolved norms, which are guided by the shared use of social or factual assets. The key element of coworking and the coworking culture isn’t the space, as it is often wrongly understood, but the community that might share physical space only occasionally (e.g. in the form of the temporary space use), yet the individuals or collectives who use such space follow the values of shared use as are defined in the world coworking manifesto. These values are comprised of the development of open source culture, while co-operational individuality takes precedence over the predominant competitive individualism. Interdisciplinary subjects are promoted, rather than narrow specializations. Active participation is also encouraged over observation and merely big words, as is the orientation towards the process instead of just focusing on the results, which taps into the potential of talented communities, rather than just the potential of talented individuals. Overall, spontaneous, organic processes
1 Perčič, Eva, Orel, Marko in Luka Piškorič. 2015. Stanje in potencial coworkinga v Sloveniji: študija o rezultatih pilotnega projekta coworkinga oz. sodela ter možnostih implementacije pilotnega poslovnega modela kot temeljnega stebra podpornega okolja v okviru socialnega podjetništva. Ljubljana: Zavod Poligon.
and relations are explored, which establish themselves in the shape of friendships and trust before the formalization of relations. Coworking space
A physically unsegregated, or only partially segregated open space, which is intended for the shared use of the working area in the form of fixed desks or working surfaces that don’t provide reserved spots also known as flex desks. It also offers the shared use of other amenities in the form of technical equipment (e.g. a printer, wireless internet connection etc.) and encourages common activities (e.g. events in the form of conferences, meetings, lectures, workshops etc.) open for users and external visitors. Coworking vs. collaboration
In Slovenia coworking is frequently translated as collaboration, but the transfer of meaning isn’t suitable and is also incorrect. Coworking can grow into collaboration, but not necessarily. The coworking work method enables the encounters and acquainting of individuals who work side by side. In due course, when they get to know each other’s skills, coworking can become a collaboration that is the joint implementation of projects. Co-working
Is the work of individuals who are embedded into an established or
traditional organizational environment (e.g. companies) and their ties are formed on the basis of set norms (e.g. determined working hours), organizational culture (e.g. prescribed working attire) and formalization of work (e.g. a signed employment contract). The confusion of this notion with the coworking concept mainly occurs within top-down projects. Empty shell model
A working space that outwardly manifests itself as a coworking space, but lacks a key element – the community. This phenomenon mostly occurs within top-down projects where the eligible use of appropriated funding is of the greatest importance. The examples of such spaces in Ljubljana are created by the local or regional authorities, who either don’t or don’t want, to connect with the local creative communities that work according to the guidelines of coworking. Such spaces are most frequently based on the shared-desk model. Business incubator
A business formation normally divided into bigger or smaller complete units (offices) intended for the incubation process of newly-established or start-up companies. Such incubators usually provide moderated or guided processes (often in the form of educational or networking events), their main purpose being the
facilitation and optimization of the incubated businesses growth. The key difference between incubators and coworking platforms is that the duration of the use of the coworking platform isn’t limited and is community-based, whilst the incubation period of a business is precisely determined (from three months to one year) and is not tied to other users of a specific space.
The term »coworking« was first used by the American games designer Bernard DeKoven in 1999 (Foertsch and Cagnol, 2013). He used it to define the phenomenon of mutual collaboration according to the principles of equality, characteristic of American video games designer collectives. It took another few years for the term to reach its contemporary conceptual base, which initially manifested itself at the opening of Brad Neuberg’s open office Spiral Muse.
Shared-desk model
Spiral Muse is considered to be the first space to host a heterogeneous community open to individuals of varied profiles and professions (Uda, 2013). And even if they hadn’t yet used the coworking terminology, coworking spaces in Europe arose even before that. The Berlin based C-base opened in 1999 and was the first hackerspace to provide a working environment for an active community of open-source programmers. Then in 2002 came the opening of the Viennese community centre for entrepreneurs Schraubenfabrik and LYNfabrikken in Danish Aarhus, which was intended for coworking designers (Foertsch and Cagnol, 2013). By the end of the millennium, in Ljubljana, coworking culture flourished at the Kiberpipa which centred its activities around creative uses of modern technologies, while the Ljudmila Association, focused on an art and science laboratory to connect the fields of open-source technology, and still operates today. There was also the KUD France Prešeren’s CyberCafe which functioned as open collaborative space.
This model envisions a physical (working) environment in the form of an open or partially divided open space that offers the basic infrastructure (e.g. desks, wireless internet connection etc.) necessary for the work of individuals (those who work autonomously and those who work in an organization) or collectives (companies, as well as organizations). It represents a working space where community isn’t at the forefront or, to be precise, we are unable to pin point its existence. — Adapted from Perčič et al. (2015).
The beginnings of coworking spaces are therefore founded within environments that
encourage the emergence of heterogeneous communities established by individuals with similar interests. Today’s upward trend of coworking communities is nevertheless a consequence of the gravity of economic recession and swift technological advances. If only a handful of coworking spaces were operating a decade ago, we are witnessing an explosion of coworking culture. Last year’s Deskmag2 (Foertsch, 2014) study indicates the existence of over 6.000 coworking spaces across the globe and the Emergent Research study predicts that their number will double before 2018, thus exceeding 12.000 (King, 2014). Considering the global increase in the number of self-employed and understanding the positive effects coworking has on the working results, in addition to the existential quality of the users, such projections are not surprising. Deskmag’s Global Coworking Survey has in fact shown that 75 per cent of coworking space users included in the study, reported an increase in their working efficiency, 80 per cent detected positive growth within their business network, and as much as 86 per cent attested that by coworking they felt considerably less socially
isolated (Foertsch, 2012). Coworking spaces establish a so-called tertiary living space, which can be understood as an environment summarizing certain spatial and organizational aspects of the living space, as well as other elements from the working environment typical of companies (DeGuzman and Tang, 2011). Coworking environments are fully equipped with the necessary furniture and working elements to enable uninterrupted work (e.g. desks, tools and other office supplies for shared use) in combination with elements providing comfort (e.g. space for relaxation, café area etc.). Within the coworking community several spontaneous processes take place, which form informal ties amongst its users (activities in the form of joint luncheons, gatherings etc.). The various moderated processes (such as events in the form of group discussions, lectures or structured gatherings) stimulate the formation and inclusion of individuals into networks. This kind of environments serve as a basis for the establishment of fundamental trust between users, which provides the extra incentive needed for collaboration on projects, sharing,
2 Deskmag is the first thematic online medium dedicated to the research of coworking and the coworking culture.
mutual assistance, and collective creativity (Spinuzzi, 2015). Empirical data projects a steady increase in the self-employed segment of the active working population in the foreseen future. It must be understood that the demand for the inclusion of these individuals in coworking communities will also rise with it. Self-employed individuals will not be the only users of coworking spaces. Various studies have pointed out that in future, the proportion of remote workers or employees in companies and organizations, for whom a permanent working space is no longer required, will also grow. Local trends and statistics are similar to those of the European and North American community. In Slovenia and in Ljubljana, coworking has been bubbling for some time now, yet the future will reveal if it can survive, or even prosper as a type of incentive for national and local economies. This will be subjected to the active involvement of both larger and smaller companies, as well as governmental and non-governmental institutions, which will identify opportunities for development in the form of (re)defining work and networking.
3/ PRACTICE:
The evolution of coworking, coworking communities and coworking spaces in Ljubljana
he year 2011 has come to represent an awakening of coworking culture in the region, as several coworking spaces in all major Slovenian cities opened at that time. A prominent feature of coworking communities is the fact they have started to develop from the bottom up. Yet, despite their numerous positive effects and international recognition, these projects still don’t enjoy systematic support on the municipal or national level.
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The first domestic initiative that identified the developmental potential of the coworking project was Slovenia Coworking, founded at the end of 2011 (Šubic, 2011). With the infrastructural support of the Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture, they organized the first coworking event as a part of a program celebrating the global coworking day Jelly Week, which happens simultaneously in numerous cities (both big and small) across the globe. The selfemployed of Ljubljana received the event with enthusiasm (Crnović, 2012). From this point on, coworking developed swiftly. Due to its extraordinary popularity among Ljubljana’s creatives, coworking events continued at Kino Šiška in the form of weekly meetings until 2014. The Slovenia Coworking initiative has reinforced and developed the coworking
culture in the capital and in the region by assisting in the process of establishment of its sister initiative Coworking Croatia in 2012 (Vodanović, 2012). By organizing various lectures and workshops, as well as through numerous media publications, Coworking Slovenia educated the general and expert public of Ljubljana, Slovenia and neighbouring countries about the concept, characteristics and advantages of coworking. The concept of coworking therefore rapidly became recognizable. A trend of emulation and the application of the model also appeared, but not without difficulty. The lack of funding towards creative professionals brought attention to a different issue for independent professionals, that of allocating the needed funds for the realization of their projects. That was what initially prompted the Coworking Slovenia initiative to form in the autumn of 2012, Slovenia Crowdfunding (Pierre, 2015), a section dedicated to raising funds from the broader public to independent projects. This initiative has since helped raise over 3 million Euros for creative projects through various Slovenian crowdfunding campaigns. Crowdfunding was the extra adhesive that along with other community building initiatives, such as the entrepreneurial events Sedi 53, The Start-up Day and the Sharing day, helped to
fortify Ljubljana’s creative community. By 2014, this community had become strong enough to move into a new permanent place thus establishing Kreativni center Poligon, situated in a former tobacco factory, Tobačna. The Slovenia Coworking initiative that dealt with the concept of coworking in theory and practice on the national and local level, as well as engaged in its popularisation, wasn’t the only coworking collective in the city. Just a stone’s throw away from Kino Šiška, Kreativna cona Šiška (KCŠ) sprang up. Its community was formed under the aegis of the Rompom design collective, revitalized a century old apartment building with their own resources and transformed it into the KCŠ creative coworking space. The upper storey of the building was divided into five interconnected office spaces, and the ground floor became a bicycle workshop and workshop for the treatment of wood, iron and other materials in order to produce working prototypes and finalized products. In November 2012, KCŠ impressed Ljubljana with their project Pop-up dom, a month-long sales exhibition of works by industrial designers and visual artists, which also provided working surfaces to creative individuals at Ljubljana’s Congress Square (Artnak, 2014). Despite the high quality of their ventures, the creative professionals nevertheless faced various financial difficulties. As there was no other alternative, the community organized a crowdfunding campaign, Save KCŠ, with 3
the backing of the city’s creative scene. The campaign aimed to raise funds for the continuation of their brilliant and original production space, and was ultimately successful. Although the lack of financial support remains a problem to this day, KCŠ pulled their creative forces together once more and organized a second, bigger Pop-up dom in December 2013. This event provided the opportunity for an increasingly stronger organic process of co-creation and articulation of a coworking community that resulted in the opening of the first Slovenian creative centre, Poligon (ibid.). While the KCŠ team were setting up the infrastructural foundations of Poligon, Slovenia Coworking poured their energy into the development of content sections and the consolidation of ties amongst various communities. This was done without any support from the system, and was thus completely bottom-up. When Poligon was established, Slovenia Coworking ceased with their activities in Kino Šiška, and the management of KCŠ was assumed by a younger generation of creators once the founding members moved to Tobačna (ibid.). At the beginning of 2012 things were also stirring in the Moste quarter of Ljubljana. The collective Društvo za ustanavljanje Kreativnih zadrug (DUKZ) was founded in the end of 2011, and established Kreativna postaja in the upper lobby of the Španski borci Theater (DUKZ, 2012). The establishment of the space and the
If translated – “Sit down, you’ve got an A!“.
cooperative was a direct result of the project Ustvarjalne skupnosti. The aim of the project was to put effort towards the establishment of an organizational and physical infrastructure that would enable young creative professionals at the start of their career to work and/or live in empty private or public facilities. The project was initiated by the open architecture initiative Maja Farol, IPOP, AVA and the Faculty of Architecture (Murn, 2011). Kreativna postaja offered space for coworking and its most active members formed a trans-media art group Rátneek, situated at the intersection of architecture, digital technologies and film (Murn, 2014). Although the project was ambitious and well-structured, it no longer exists due to the ever present lack of funding. And while Slovenia Coworking and Kreativna cona Šiška joined forces after their initial separation, DUKZ did not live long enough to see the next phase.
Marko Orel and Eva Matjaž, in collaboration with four communities uniting the various self-employed in the creative industries: Slovenia Coworking, Slovenia Crowdfunding, Kreativna cona Šiška and Ljudje. The space has been operating since February 2014 and is a bottom-up open platform, uniting and providing a supportive environment for the self-employed and start-ups in the area of creative industries, social entrepreneurship and culture. In less than two years, Poligon became one of the central meeting points of various creative communities. Poligon hosted over 300 events covering various subjects that were visited by over 20 thousand different people (Perčič et al., 2015).
Due to the organic integration of different creative communities in Ljubljana in the past, Poligon kreativni center or Creative Centre Poligon consequently has become the biggest active coworking platform in Slovenia. With its program and working methods, Poligon overgrew the framework of traditional coworking spaces and is the first and only creative center in Slovenia. It is situated in a 1200m2 industrial hall of the former tobacco factory in Tobačna and has over 250 members, which are known as “Residents”.
Poligon strives to connect people with different skill sets, regardless of the degree of their project’s development, all while adjusting its contents to the needs of its community. The center also strives to share these skills and knowledge outwardly. In regards to programs offered, Poligon is globally unique. Although creative centres take many forms, Poligon is the only one that combines the knowledge of crowdfunding (Crowdfunding Lab) and rapid product prototyping (Poligon Maker Lab) under one roof (Mesku, 2014). The creative center offers work space to its users and the broader community as the self-employed and micro companies in their initial or later phases. Poligon recognizes the need for contact with other people of different skills and backgrounds in order for to execute their projects more efficiently.
Poligon was founded by Luka Piškorič,
Poligon carefully and attentively develops
diverse program units that are necessary for the work of creative professionals. The platform transmits knowledge about intellectual property, new economic models, social entrepreneurship, crowdfunding, service design, product development and strategic marketing, ... The various labs (Crowdfunding Lab, Coworking Lab, Poligon Maker Lab etc.) are where new services and product prototypes are developed. And finally, Poligon is known for its production, coproduction and organizational support of workshops, conferences, lectures, etc. on the topics of new economies, selfemployment, social innovation, as well as its art and culture events. Creative Center Poligon is legally and formally a private institute, and is fully funded by its commercial activities. In spite of the ardent support of numerous public and private institutions, it is not recognized as a great benefit to the public, and therefore has to rent space at full price, since it is not entitled to receive support from the municipality or the state. In the year 2015 it was recognized in a state competition, held by the Public Agency Spirit Slovenia, as the best coworking space in the region of Ljubljana. A week later it received a Central European Start-up Award (CESA) for the best Slovenian coworking space. The first developmental direction of the coworking culture in Ljubljana and Slovenia went hand in hand with the communities working in the field of creative industries. It was these communities that introduced
coworking as one of the useful concepts of the new economies towards the empowerment of the self-employed creative professionals and to localize it to the Slovenian public. What is characteristic of the pioneers of Slovenian coworking is that they consistently adhere to the values of the international coworking manifesto (PerÄ?iÄ? et al., 2015). These values are the development of open-source culture, stressing that collaborative individualism is valued over the otherwise dominant competitive individualism. Interdisciplinary ideas take precedence over narrow specialization, while action and active participation, rather than observation, are encouraged. Another key that is vital, is the importance of the process, as well as the results that are stressed and not just focused on final results. This makes room for the potential of talented groups to be explored more frequently, rather than just the potential of individuals. Overall, spontaneity, organic processes and relations are encouraged, which result in friendships and trust, outside of the formalization of relations. The second direction of the application of the coworking concept in the region of Ljubljana has taken a direct business connotation and is based on so-called start-up companies, innovations and the search for seed capital. Typical of these cases is unfortunately the superficial and imprecise application of the concepts of new economies, which have become an attractive trend due to their popularization by creative communities. Nowadays many players more or less successfully try to
get a piece of the coworking cake, despite not respecting or understanding the values of the culture. Several businesses and organizations have appeared in the region of Ljubljana mostly because of their reduced scope of operation, as they simply wanted to fill their redundant spatial capacities with tenants or individuals who would rent desks in an open space or interrelated offices. These services have nothing to do with coworking as they do not provide opportunities for the formation and articulation of coworking culture, nor do they provide an already established organizational culture that would encourage the users to share knowledge and offer support to one another. Despite the fact that what we have described is the system of the shared-desk model, their instigators still market it as coworking. The misuse of the concept has been done on their own terms. They are known as sharewashing, as they do not adhere to the values of the economies of shared use, which are oriented towards the empowerment of the community, but rather use new marketing approaches to make old economies more attractive (Carlin, 2014). The coworking concept is most frequently and wrongly equated to various accelerators or business support environments. One 4
called Start:up Geek House was opened in Tehnološki park4 in 2012. The program is situated in a few m2 sized space, which is furnished with working stations in the form of office desks. The work areas are available to the globally oriented start-up companies and private entrepreneurs. Start:up Geek House is based on the three-pillar philosophy of the innovative, lean and agile. To use their space you have to cross their entry threshold, which determines work on a minimally acceptable product according to their set business plan (Eterović Klemenčič, 2012). This is why we can classify Start:up Geek House as a business support environment with shared working surfaces, but not as a coworking space, which aims towards a heterogeneous community and flexible working spaces without limitations. The business support environment is also characteristic of MP Coworking, which opened at the beginning of 2014 on the premises of the Mladi podjetnik Institute (Zaletel, 2014). Just like Start:Up Geek House, MP Coworking operates in a space with small square footage that doesn’t enable the appropriate organic development of a community. But unlike its counterpart in Tehnološki park, MP Coworking is open to all the individuals from various backgrounds, which could contribute to the activation and employment of the young and not just the narrow business community.
In parallel with the program In Ljubljana several projects of this sort
were established in other incubators and technological parks in Maribor, Nova Gorica, Zagorje, Kranj, Celje.
The year 2015 has brought two more spaces self-entitled as coworking, which are in fact incubators. Dplac in Bežigrad focuses on the development of social enterprise ideas and got its space for non-profit rent from Slovenia’s biggest bank, Nova ljubljanska banka. DPlac5 offers a supportive environment to individuals and teams in the form of workspace facilities, while also offering the sharing of knowledge and counselling. The space has a distinct process of selection, as it is meant to be used by individuals or groups whose social enterprise idea is in its conceptual or early implementation phase (Pavlin, 2015). The most recently opened space in Ljubljana, ABC Hub, has its location in the basement of the Emporium shopping centre in BTC City Ljubljana. ABC Hub strives to establish a business ecosystem and represents an entrepreneurial centre intended solely for start-up companies and young entrepreneurs (Vabšek, 2015). As it follows set programme guidelines for business growth and offers just a part of their premises as a space for flexible and fixed desks, it is difficult to classify it as a coworking space in its entirety. It would be more appropriately defined as a business ecosystem that is partly run according to the coworking methodology as a way of working for the individuals who are part of a space.
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What is common in all these cases is the fact they have primarily established the space and not the community, which is contrary to the coworking theory and the examples of good practice. Without community, coworking culture can’t exist, as it is the primary ingredient of the coworking process. Coworking culture also strives to tie self-employed individuals together, and it doesn’t put stress on their connections with companies, or if they follow their business plan or not. Coworking communities and spaces aren’t intended only for work that is limited to a computer. The coworking culture can be more or less successfully transferred to any working environment. The top-down established RogLab is an example of the establishment of a coworking project that isn’t backed by a community. It derived from the developmental project Second Chance, which aimed to encourage content development that would find its place in the Rog of the future (Štular, 2014). The space is situated inside a container on Ljubljana’s Petkovškovo nabrežje. It is supposed to function as a hub for creative activities for architects, designers and artists who use 3-d printers, laser cutters and other advanced technological tools in their work. Yet, the space is only open occasionally and
DPlac was founded on the initiative of the Cene Štupar Public Institute in
collaboration with the Uspešen podjetnik Institute, Mladinski ceh Association, Iz principa marketing agency, The 05 Fund, Šentprima Institute and partners from abroad, Euclid Network in Co-seed (Pavlin, 2015).
is more of a project space, rather than a coworking space. Although Roglab is trying to establish itself as a hub for the creative industries, it doesn’t advertise itself as a coworking space. The biggest obstacle for the efficient development of this project is its distance from the community that is its potential user. Instead of creating a space focused on community needs, it rather focused on the top-down model, which ultimately alienates individuals from the creative industries. The total opposite, and therefore much more efficient, was the organic development of Poligon Maker Lab. While it shares many features with RogLab, it is inherently different, as it is a consequence of an actual need inside the community -therefore considered a bottom-up project. An example of good practice in the form of a non-office coworking space is Anselma (Perčič, 2012), which was established with the intent to give the fashion designers and sewing enthusiasts of Ljubljana a space where they can create various pieces of clothing and accessories with the right equipment, and in doing so, improve the techniques for their creation. It is a fashion design and alterations workshop run by a community, which formed inside the small premises on Židovska ulica, Ljubljana, and then moved into a bigger
space on Kolodvorska Street. In Anselma it is possible to use space, machines or attend sewing classes. They are a coworking space, which was established from the bottom up and would not be considered an incubator. Given the rapid development of coworking spaces while taking into account the forces of social change - a direct result of the rapid fluctuations of the global markets and their influences on our domestic economy- we can fully expect the forthcoming rise in the number of coworking spaces and incubators that will be put to use (and also abused!). Because of increasing trend of selfemployment, there is a great possibility that the need of the citizens of Ljubljana for inclusion into these types of coworking communities will also rise, as there are no suitable production platforms for the self-employed in the city or surrounding region. It would therefore be prudent for the local policy makers to come together with the initiators of coworking spaces to form a unified strategy for the systematic support of such platforms in order to achieve optimal effects for the selfemployed citizens. Coworking spaces are well known to be supporting platforms for the creative industries and new economies, which are globally recognized as an increasingly profitable industry.
4/ VISION:
Public space and public infrastructure suited to the self-employed
he ever-increasing trend of self-employment has become so evident, not only in Ljubljana and Slovenia, but also throughout Europe and the U.S. and it has brought with it the pressing need for changes in our primary working environment. The farsighted municipalities and countries of the world have started to recognize the positive impact coworking platforms have on the work efficiency of the self-employed, which consequently means more tax money in the municipal and state coffers.
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When we want to socialize or spend our leisure time we make good use of public spaces, such as parks, playgrounds and walking trails, but the question still stands when it comes to developing suitable public spaces to support the future needs of the citizens. Can coworking spaces become an indispensable part of a city’s infrastructure and be enjoyed in the same way we enjoy fountained squares and parks? With the advent of modernism, all forces went into the encouragement of specialization and working within the limits of the various fields of expertise, But within a post-modern society and economy we have yet again the opportunity to witness the benefits of the cross-pollination within diverse fields and communities. In fact, true
innovation occurs at the intersection of various, sometimes seemingly not related, areas of expertise. And these quite often happen by pure chance encounters, and this is why it is of the utmost importance that space for such professional encounters is as open, public and accessible to the widest variety of individuals as can be. Integrating public space with work is far from easy, as the boundaries where this sort of support becomes the commercialisation of public space must be clearly stated, and the cross over is something to be avoided. For this reason it is necessary for the authorities to familiarize themselves thoroughly with the concept of coworking, in addition to the characteristics of new economies before taking any steps towards the systematic introduction of coworking solutions. It is vital that in the preparation of the model for systematic support the authorities aim towards a consistent use of coworking terminology and the correct implementation of concepts. Only then will they be able to create a quality plan of systematic support for the existing coworking platforms. It is also imperative for clear criteria to be set when it comes to the selection process of funding beneficiaries, in order to prevent more financial abuse, as we have witnessed in certain Slovenian municipalities on state
level. It would be shameful to repeat these instances when self-proclaimed coworking spaces, without communities that were organized from the top down, received funding at the expense of actual coworking spaces that didn’t measure up to the variable-oriented assessment criteria of the bureaucrats. Variables have never been real indicators of development and efficiency of a coworking platform. It would also make sense to include funding for development and realization of new economies modules (including social entrepreneurship). Ljubljana’s coworking culture is at an extremely high level. The most creative and
markedly innovative global cities6 already parade their numerous coworking spaces, and Ljubljana could easily join them. With a group of strong and interconnected coworking spaces, they would not become solely the centre of Slovenian innovation, but a strong leader in the regional junction of the Balkans and Central Europe. In order to achieve this, the support of the system will be needed. Does the city, following its decade-old desire to be proclaimed the most beautiful, dare to become anything more? Does Ljubljana dare to become the most creative and innovative of cities? As the old wisdom goes... Beauty fades. But knowledge is forever.
6 Such as San Francisco, New York in the U.S. and Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris in Europe.
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About the authors
Marko Orel (1986) graduated (2009) and received his MA (2012) at the
University of Ljubljana and as a student went to further his studies at the
University of Warsaw. In the meantime he worked as an event and community manager in Prague's coworking space Impact Hub, as well as devised and
co-organized activities as a member of Slovenia Coworking initiative. Although (still) working on his PhD thesis on the topic of spontaneous and moderated networking of the independent working individuals who use open workspaces as their working environment he has had the will and energy to coordinate communities and projects like KCŠ, Pop-up dom, found various initiatives in the field of creative industries and co-found Creative centre Poligon, one of the biggest regional coworking spaces. He has also carried out independent research in Berlin and Leipzig, and was one of the ten doctoral researchers who in 2015 were awarded the Utrecht Research Network Grant that enabled him to continue with his research at the University of Latvia in Riga. He is a member of the international research consortium WikiCoworking; with his research colleagues from the University of Vienna he studies the emergence of organizational networks. In short – his life revolves around the increasing trend of self-employment, networking in coworking spaces and the understanding of new organizational models.
Eva Matjaž (Perčič / 1979) is a Psychologist whose research path started in
a market research agency Aragon (2000). She continued her research work at the
agency Kline & Partner (2004 - 2007) and by the end of 2007 co-founded the
first and only agency for qualitative research in Slovenia, Memo Institut. To this day
she has completed over 200 studies on the fields of R&D and market strategies development for diverse Slovenian and foreign companies, public institutes and non-profit organizations. Her MA on the topic of new economic models and the benefits of decreased consumption was awarded as the best MA on the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana in 2009. In 2011 her research focused on coworking, which led to the co-founding of the Slovenia Coworking initiative. The following year she topped this off with the co-founding of another initiative, Slovenia Crowdfunding and in the beginning of 2014 was part of the trio that co-founded Creative centre Poligon in Ljubljana. Her work resolves around uniting and testing numerous new concept of shared use. Today she continues with her research work at the Intakodalje Institute for researching new model of economy and society, which she established in 2014. She is also a co-founder of the Library of Things, the first Slovenian library where the people of Ljubljana can borrow various useful objects they don't need regularly. Eva lectures on conferences at home and abroad, and is or was a member or different governmental expert groups on the topic of new economies, creative industries and the issues of self-employment.
Authors: Marko Orel and Eva Matjaž Reviewer: Luka Piškorič Graphic design: Žiga Artnak Cover illustration: Marko K. Gavez Photography: Archive from Poligon, Institute for development of creative industries Technical support: Polona Torkar and Zala Vidali Print: Figo d.o.o. Quantity: 200 copies Co-funded by: M estna občina Ljubljana & Kreazin
Our gratitude goes to various creative hubs for the realization of the project: Kreazin – Ljubljana Creative Hubs, Zavod Servis8, Creative Mornings Ljubljana, DUKZ, Museum of Architecture and Design MAO, Pekinpah Association – RTO Section, Kreativna Cona Šiška, KD ProstoRož, RogLab and RCKE.
Poligon Institute for development of creative industries Ljubljana 2015