• Community
Carlos Almansa on April 29, 2015

Will #coworking exist in 10 000 years? Slow the pace, it’s not a race

Technology has accelerated the speed at which we are living and communicating with each other. Just like a Twitter feed, what happened yesterday is already old news. Sometimes we need to stop and mull things over to have a wider perspective. Recently, while reading the book The Clock of the Long Now by Stewart Brand, I came across one of its best known diagrams, which I believe could help us analyse or look back on the last 10 years of the coworking movement. Stewart Brand separates civilisation into six different layers, each of which changes at its own speed. For example, there is a significant gap between the almost ethereal tempo at which fashion moves and the rhythm of nature.

Pace Layering. Source: The clock of the long now.

Pace Layering. Source: The clock of the long now. 

 

Over recent years, the coworking movement has significantly gained momentum and the question is often asked as to whether this “hype” is positive or if it could negatively affect the sustained/sustainable growth of coworking spaces, culture and coworking community.

 

Do you remember cybercafés? If you were to ask a 15-year-old, I doubt they would know what you’re talking about, but there were loads of them back in the day. The introduction of home broadband had a great impact on their model. Models such as Blockbuster didn’t know how to respond to the Internet boom either.

 

Stewart Brand is co-founder of the Long Now Foundation, which mainly considers fostering long-term responsibilities for human kind. In this scenario, they have projects such as the 10 000 year clock or using genetic engineering to clone a mammoth.

 

Will #coworking exist in 10 000 years? The question isn’t so much looking for an answer as looking beyond the movement’s past, present or immediate future. During this extremely long time frame we can speculate the changes that could take place in society and therefore suggest models to respond to them. We can speculatively ask ourselves:
  • What percentage of the population will be working in 1 000 years’ time?
  • How much of the active population will be employed and how much of it will be freelance?
  • How many cities/planets will a person born in 2 000 years live in?
Since its origins, community has been the coworking movement’s main value. After all, a coworking space that doesn’t give its tables and chairs added value is like a garden without flowers. Sometimes things are rushed without dedicating the patience needed, which can be counterproductive for a coworking space and disseminating the coworking concept.
trees in wood photographed from below
Photo source: Stale Grut
It can be hard not to get caught up in the media hype, the headlines and startup growth ratios. But we mustn’t ignore that the impact that coworking aims to have wouldn’t be in the first, second or third layer of Stewart Brand’s diagram. In the long-term, coworking can generate the greatest impact between the fourth and the fifth layers. We think that coworking will play a leading role in or alongside some of the following changes:
  • Work environment: a shift from an employee culture to “self-driven” people, end of the work/life balance, mobility.
  • Changes to city models: independence on transport methods, new housing models, redefinition of public space.
  • Consumer models: increase in shared economy, more efficient and rational resource usage models.
  • Family environments: changes to traditional models, coliving, family conciliation.
In short, coworking is destined to change or go hand in hand with changes that go beyond what is generating interest at present, always making coworkers feel part of “something much bigger”.

Do you think that coworking will exist in 10 000 years’ time?

Carlos Almansa
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