Collaborative spaces and creativity: the reasons for an ever-expanding phenomenon

Who are they and what are frequent users of co-working spaces in Italy looking for?
Needs, expectations, values: the results of UNIMORE research.

The research report

The Department of Communication and Economics at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia has just presented the results of a research study on collaborative spaces in Italy, which has seen an explosion in the past five years and is growing steadily.

The spaces

The research identified 665 collaborative spaces located in 7 Italian regions-Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Latium, Apulia and Sicily-with a tendentially “widespread” distribution across the territory. Collaborative spaces offer desks and equipment in open-plan offices, meeting rooms but also privacy areas, relaxation and social spaces, lounges and bars; work zones therefore integrated with sharing and socializing areas in flexible and modular environments to ensure privacy and confidentiality.

Profile of co-workers

They are young: 62 percent are under 40, the average age is 37. They are highly educated: 70 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher. They are predominantly men (but 38 percent are women). They are mostly entrepreneurs and freelancers (45%) but the presence of employees (28%) is not negligible. They work a lot (88% from 31 to over 50 hours per week) and work in different places (home, business, traveling, at customers and suppliers). Half of their time they work in a collaborative space.

Professions

The professions of those who frequent collaborative spaces are varied: computer scientist, architect, graphic designer, engineer, journalist, translator, photographer, video maker, designer, firmware developer, researcher, engineer, programmer, technician, project manager, entrepreneur. Different professions, but they have one important aspect in common: the creativity component. Co-workers perceive that they are doing creative work, the content of which is new and useful, and in this they find strong intrinsic motivation.

The reasons for a choice

Workers who choose a collaborative space do so because they perceive it as open and proactive to change; a space that encourages their creativity and where they find support for the development of their ideas. How? Thanks, especially to the relationships established with other co-workers. In a collaborative space, members share skills and experiences, help and encourage each other, and act as peacemakers in case of conflict.

Culture and values

This is precisely the determining factor in choosing to attend a co-working space. Co-workers think that creativity depends a lot on what is known as embeddedness, or a sense of belonging, sharing and consistency with the values and organizational culture of the space they frequent.