There’s no doubt New Yorkers’ priorities and work habits are different from those in Los Angeles. Just as the workforce in Atlanta is different from that of Chicago, so are coworking spaces. There’s much difference as well when Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas get contrasted. This is a good thing. Coworking isn’t meant to be one size fits all, it’s meant to help the people in a specific community excel in the areas in which they are good. That’s why understanding the nature of regional development is critical to understanding coworking.
Geography
Large cities like Los Angeles have different coworking requirements than geographically small cities like San Francisco. There are many reasons for this, but the biggest is that San Francisco’s compact nature requires spaces for multiple applications. Los Angeles’s sprawl means there’s more availability of office space instead of the premium existing in San Francisco. Both cities have highly developed entrepreneurial cultures, but with geographic considerations involved, it makes sense that San Franciscans appreciate the flexibility found in coworking spaces.
Regional Priorities
San Francisco’s largest businesses are much different than New York’s. While New York is the world’s financial capital, an argument exists about San Francisco’s primacy in the tech world. Therefore, a coworking space in New York would be oriented towards the needs of the finance sector while the tech sector in San Francisco exerts its influence in its coworking spaces. These priorities manifest in the layout, footprint, and membership rolls within the coworking communities.
Startup Culture
Manufacturing centers are not going to be places where coworking takes root because coworking is endemic to the startup culture. For example, factory towns have assembly line jobs, and the goal is to put out a physical product. Startups have a greater emphasis on bringing intangible ideas to life. In today’s world, there’s less emphasis on manufacturing and more emphasis on developing digital solutions to life’s problems. That’s why the entrepreneurs of manufacturing cities are less likely to have coworking spaces looking like those in tech hubs.
When looking at the differences in coworking spaces it’s important to look at national establishments like Venture X. Check out the different Venture X franchises in different cities to see how these spaces work for the people in each city.
