This book explores the innovative workplaces, namely coworking spaces and makerspaces, that are emerging as a consequence of digital innovations and the related development of the knowledge economy and society in the wake of deindustrialization. Drawing on international and multidisciplinary research projects, fresh insights are provided into current trends, research methodologies, actors, location patterns and effects, and urban and regional policies and planning. The aim is to cast light on all aspects of these new working and making spaces, highlighting their innovative geographies and the complexities of their nexus with urban and regional change processes from both the theoretical and the empirical point of view. The book includes multiple illuminating case studies from the advanced economies of North America and Europe, carefully selected for their relevance to the topic under analysis. This book is designed for an international audience comprising not only academicians but alsopolicymakers, representatives of civil and entrepreneurial associations, and business operators.

Autorentext
Ilaria Mariotti is an Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Economics in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano (Italy). She holds an M.Sc. in Regional Science and Ph.D.s in Spatial Sciences Transportation Economics. Her research interests include new working spaces and their effects on entrepreneurs' performance and the economic and urban context; firm location, industrial districts, and clusters; and the impact of multinational firms on the home and host economies. She has been the coordinator of a number of research projects and has published widely.  Stefano Di Vita is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano, with teaching and research responsibilities. He holds an M.Sc. in Architecture and a Ph.D. in Urban, Regional, and Environmental Planning. From 2005 to 2010, he was a project collaborator with SITA srl, Brescia, with responsibilities for urban and regional planning and design. He is the author or editor of seven books, including the Springer book From Smart City to Smart Region: Digital services for an internet of places (2016), as well as many book chapters and journal articles. Mina Akhavan is an Adjunct Professor and Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano, where she is working on the project MOBILAGE. Mobility and Aging: Daily Life and Welfare Supportive Networks at the Neighborhood Level. She holds a Master's degree in Urban Planning and Policy Design and a Ph.D. in Spatial Planning and Urban Development. She has previously collaborated in various research groups (LaBELT, FARB, etc.), and her research interests include the sharing economy and new workspaces, urban policy mobilities and transnational studies, and mobility studies.

Inhalt

Preface.- Introduction. Digital technologies, and innovation of works and workplaces.- First Part Phenomena.- 1. Third places for work: A comprehensive review of the literature on coworking spaces and makerspaces. Mina Akhavan.- 2. The emergence and spread of new collaborative makerspaces: The features of FabLabs in Europe within a global trend. Cecilia Manzo.- 3. The rise of the worldwide phenomenon of coworking spaces: Main patterns and future trends. Mina Akhavan, Vieri Calogero, Ilaria Mariotti.- 4. Exploring new workplaces with social network analysis. Fabio Manfredini, Stefano Saloriani.- Second Part Actors.- 5. Coworkers and their business relations in localized settings. Veronique Schutjens.- 6. Makers as social innovators. Marianna D'Ovidio.- Third Part Places.- 7. Situating the new sharing economy: 'Regional geographies' of Greater Seattle's coworking facilities. Yonn Dierwechter.- 8. Detroit after the Rustbelt: Digital innovation and economic regeneration in America's Midwest. Mark Wilson, Eva Kassens-Noor.- 9. Work sprawl: Knowledge work, digitization, and the changing relationship between activity and the city in Ontario. Filipa Pajevi, Richard Shearmur.- 10. The urbanity of coworking spaces in France: The case of the Loire Valley Region. Divya Leducq, Christophe Demazière.- 11. Urban centrality in the new geography of innovation: Coworking spaces in London and Rome. Stefania Fiorentino, Nicola Livingstone.- 12. Coworking spaces in Italy: Location patterns and urban effects. Ilaria Mariotti.- 13. Observing the evolution of Milan makerspaces: Trajectories for taking roots process in close and far environments. Corinna Morandi.- Fourth Part Agenda.- 14. What policies after the metamorphosis of workplaces? The case of urban small scale production. Simonetta Armondi.- 15. Clustering and classifying innovative workplaces: Which demands for urban and regional planning? Stefano Di Vita.- Conclusion and further research. Coworking spaces, makerspace, and the connections to territorial and productive ecosystems.- References.