Identifying the Social, Urban, and Environmental Co-Benefits of Coworking Spaces in Irish Towns

Stephen Wall () and Philip R. Crowe
Additional contact information
Stephen Wall: School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin, Belfield, D04V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
Philip R. Crowe: School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin, Belfield, D04V1W8 Dublin, Ireland

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: Coworking spaces are shared workplaces in which desk space is available to remote workers, freelancers, and small enterprises. They offer the social, technological, and networking advantages of an office while allowing workers the freedom to reside in a location of their choice. Remote working has become a common work practice in recent years, accelerated by restrictions introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Irish Government policy strongly supports coworking spaces across the island to support employment diversity and retain populations in towns and villages. Along with the provision of viable workplaces, coworking spaces can provide a range of co-benefits to their localities, such as stimulating local economies and reducing commuting-related emissions. This paper describes a mixed-method study seeking to identify this range of co-benefits through a survey of coworking space users and semi-structured interviews with coworking space founders, managers, and coordinators. The study uses an integrative process to categorise the findings into social, urban, and environmental co-benefits. The research finds that locating a coworking space in a central rather than peripheral urban area can support and optimise many of these co-benefits.

Keywords: remote working; coworking; urban rehabilitation; mobility; environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/175/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/175/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2023:i:1:p:175-:d:1306561

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().