COWORKING PROJECT

Detailed Project Information

Project Start Date: 15th March 2020
Project Duration: 12 months
Project Coordinator: Prof. Borelli Guido
HIT Members and Staff: Prof. Luciano Gamberini
Project number: 2122-0008-1463-2019
Total Project Funding: 129.595,84 €
Partners: Dipartimento di Culture del Progetto (DCP; Iuav di Venezia),

Human Inspired Technologies Research Center (HIT, UNIPD),

Dipartimento di filosofia e beni culturali (Cà Foscari, UNIVE ),

E.R.P.A. (Edil Ricerca Programmazione Assistenza Srl),

Futura Srl, Lemon Di Muzzati Ilaria,

Regus Business Centres Italia Srl,

Space Treviso Srl,

Sumo Società Cooperativa Sociale

There are shared spaces where workers operate simultaneously and on different and multiple fronts, that are capable to impact positively on the quality of work. These spaces are ever-growing, not only in big cities but also in smaller ones. Coworkers use these spaces because they favor the work-life balance, but above because they feel part of a community of professionals. They “Work alone, together” grow professionally and individually.

The project takes advantage of a transdisciplinary research team, and the general aim is to support new organizational strategies promoting management models in coworking spaces. More specifically, it is meant to identify the business models in the coworking spaces active in the Veneto region, to trace the relationship between organizational choices and economic and occupational performances. Finally, the project intends to investigate the modalities with which coworking spaces positively impact on the occupation and on the quality of work.

The HIT Centre will focus on the analysis of the personal and subjective experiences of the workers in coworking spaces. Special attention will be payed to the motivations and expectations of workers, to the impact on well-being, to the interpersonal dynamics, and to the analysis of coworkers' perceptions. To this end, several methods will be employed, including questionnaires, interviews, field observations and focus groups.

The outbreak of Covid-19 has changed these spaces. On the one hand, the virus had a negative impact on these spaces, but on the other hand it has accelerated the changes in the new ways of working.

Investigating coworking in this totally new context will allow to understand how Covid-19 influenced coworkers’ perceptions, their levels of stress, satisfaction and work performance, and the relationship among them. These data can be helpful to redesign coworking spaces, physically and technologically, focusing on the actual coworkers’ needs.