Exploring Hybridity in Non-urban Collaborative Workspaces: Case Studies from Alpine Regions

Collaborative workspaces (CWS) are flourishing not only in cities but also in non-urban areas. Several independent or combined aspects in CWS, encompassing the blended typologies, the mixture of working, living, and social spheres, exemplifying Oldenburg’s (1999) ‘third place’, and integrating online/onsite post-pandemic work practices, led to their arrangement as hybrid environments. From the planning and architecture perspectives hybridity/hybridization happens in the interaction between the framework of spatio-functional, social, and digital dimensions of spaces and their surroundings (Paay et al. 2007; Di Marino et al. 2023). This chapter addresses the gap in understanding hybridity in non-urban areas, despite its extensive study in urban contexts, utilizing CWS and their surroundings. Two cases from non-urban Alpine municipalities in Italy and Austria explore this phenomenon. The Alpine region is selected for its thriving CWS networks attracting/retaining young talent in sparsely populated areas, revitalizing through new working habits. The exploration is conducted through semistructured interviews with managers, online content analysis, and GIS mapping tools.