The Emergence Of Coworking, Part 2

In my article of last Saturday I described the emerge of location independent working and the phenomenon of coworking. In this article I’ll come up with three examples of coworking spots.

First of all: Coworker.nl, which was started by web kids Robert Gaal and Alper Çuğun. Coworker.nl is a very nice Dutch website which provides an overview map of all sorts of coworking spots around the Netherlands, ranging from free desks in office towers to semi-squatted buildings with a wireless internet connection. It works as an open source where people are encouraged to send in new coworking spots and filling in the map. Robert Gaal: “The idea behind the website is that small companies can help each other. If I have a business visit, I prefer to stay a day. You’re able to get to know some nice, new people.”

A famous coworking place in San Francisco is Citizen Space. The idea of Citizen Space is to take the best elements of a coffee shop (social, energetic, creative) and the best elements of a workspace (productive, functional) and combine them to give independent workers the chance to have their own, affordable space. The idea behind this coworking spot consists of five values: collaboration, openness, community, accessibility and sustainability.

Spaces is an interesting coworking spot at the beautiful Herengracht in Amsterdam. Spaces is an all-in-one-building restaurant, lounge and business district. At Spaces you do not just rent ‘ready to use’ square feet, but also the supportive services of your choice, such as telephone answering services, receiving your guests or ordering printing paper. Storage is also available. In the near future Spaces aims to open approximately ten new spots around the Netherlands.

Bonus: check out this interesting coworking wiki!