A Theory of Coworking
Entrepreneurial communities, immaterial commons and working futures
This thesis develops the larger theoretical foundation behind the coworking research programme: coworking as a way of organising entrepreneurial communities, immaterial commons, and new working futures.
What the paper argues
The thesis examines coworking spaces as more than shared offices. It treats them as organised social environments where independent workers, entrepreneurs, hosts, events, routines, and atmospheres come together to produce possibilities for learning, collaboration, belonging, and work.
Across the thesis, coworking is analysed as a practical response to the uncertainty of independent knowledge work. The central question is how spaces, communities, and shared practices help people coordinate when they do not belong to the same firm.
Core contribution: A theory of coworking as entrepreneurial community, immaterial commons, and organised social infrastructure for independent work
Why it matters
The thesis matters because it sits behind several later papers: the social-economy account of coworking as a coordination point, the affective-commons theory of shared atmosphere, and the later work on collaborative workspaces as regional entrepreneurial infrastructure.
The coworking research programme
The thesis is the deep foundation for the later papers on coworking, affective commons, stigmergic curation, and collaborative workspaces as regional infrastructure.
Read Affective Commons