20: Coworking spaces in smaller and more sparsely populated regions

We combine perspectives from economic geography, digital media studies and work studies to explore how local actors in small towns consider the rise of remote work as an opportunity for sustainable development. More workers can choose to work remotely, freeing them from frequent commutes, and expanding the range of places where they work, organizationally as well as geographically. Coworking spaces (CWS) have diffused rapidly from large urban centers to smaller, more sparsely populated regions. How are the urban qualities of CWS re-encoded in rural contexts, and by whom? We explore four CWS initiatives in Southern Sweden. We find a variety of local actors that mobilize CWS to address numerous sustainable development challenges. This multiplicity of CWS ambitions, combined with the necessity of multi-actor collaboration in smaller places, leads us to propose a values model to guide the development of CWS initiatives.