I really don't mean that question in any kind of hostile way, I really am curious, because it comes up a lot. And I don't think I know what people mean when they say that. Honest, no hidden agendas, no secret trap to be sprung, I am just puzzled by it.
To stick with your analogy, in the 70s a beanbag chair (known then as a Sacco, man am I old) was wildly fashionable but by no means everyone had one -- it was something of a statement. Now it is still the case that not everybody has one, because not everybody likes them -- but they are surely mainstream it seems to me. Everybody knows where to get one and what they look like, you don't have to explain them. Right now I think coworking is wildly popular and fashionable. But by no means does everybody do it, and not everybody knows where to find a space. I think we are certainly verging on that, though, and in fairly short order (5 years, maybe?) it will be part of the cultural heritage (YMMV depending on where you are in the world of course). But I don't think myself that it will be a challenge to ordinary commercial real estate, any more than bean bags became the prevailing model of seating. It will change and influence ordinary real estate (and high time, too). But replace it? I personally doubt it. I think coworking is rising along with some other things for reasons independent of it as a movement: I think the way we think about work was dictated in large part by the technology of the Industrial Revolution and for many good and valid reasons. We are it seems to me witnessing the transition dictated by the Information Revolution and the way we think about work is changing to suit the available technology, as it always has. Which way it will change is anybody's guess but (just as with the Industrial Revolution) the people who will shape the change are not the people who choose for it: the pioneers, the information workers, the office nomads. The people who will truly shape the change are Joe the Plumber and Bill the Welder, Sue the Bookkeeper and Anne the maker of handbags. If it doesn't work for people who did not choose it but had it thrust upon them,it won't go. Jeannine On Mar 7, 7:00 pm, CoCoMSP <[email protected]> wrote: > Regarding the question of mainstream, the word itself is useless, > unless we're searching for some kind of external affirmation from the > broader culture. > > But I think most of us would agree that coworking spaces offer a high- > quality alternative to traditional workspaces, home offices and coffee > shops. If "mainstream" means that coworking is made available to more > people, then I'm all for it. Let's share the wealth. > > Someone I know who is in the commercial furniture business put it this > way: back in the 70s, cubicles became the "dominant design" of > workspaces. And that happened for a number of reasons, many of them > positive at the time. Now that cubicle farms are in serious decline, > what will be the dominant design (or designs) of the future? I'd like > to think that coworking (or some descendant of coworking) has a good > shot at filling the gap. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
