Urban Renovation Through Co-Working Spaces

In August, I gave a TEDx talk in Scranton called Urban Renovation Through Co-Working Spaces. Above is the video. You can see the script after the jump!

How many of you work remotely or freelance? How many of you do this from someplace other than your home? Before my first 9 to 5 gig, I was freelancing as a web developer through high school, college, and full time. This gave me the freedom to work when I wanted, how I wanted.

After doing the regular office routine, I still wanted that flexibility. That’s why I continue to freelance as a web and mobile developer.

I know I’m not the only one. I know There are lots of people working at home, either remotely or as freelancers, by themselves. Then I heard about Co-working Spaces.

Co-working spaces gather people who would normally work independently from home or elsewhere, and brings them all together to work in a single shared location.

As a group that is estimated to represent over 30% of the American workforce, and l.estimated to grow to 40% by 2020, freelancers are finding co-working spaces to be a great way to work.

This is a growing social movement that not only challenges the way people work everyday, but also how cities can utilize community space.

There is a beauty in being able to do this in today’s world. We no longer need to live in the cities in which our companies are located. By working in a co-working space, I can stay in the area I currently live in, because I can access my clients all over the world. They don’t need to know where I am. And I love that.

Additionally, I don’t need to keep the traditional 9 to 5 hours. It might not even be practical.

For example, if we look at Automattic, a worldwide distributed company that is the driving force behind WordPress.com, it would be impossible for all of their employees to work the same shifts.

Automattic is located in San Francisco, but has full time employees everywhere from New York to Australia. Whose 9 to 5 would they work?

On top of that, co-working spaces could prevent the dreaded ‘Brain Drain’ that areas like Scranton face. Brain Drain happens when highly trained or intelligent people move from one area to another. This usually occurs because of fewer job opportunities, or lack of accommodating facilities.

Having seven colleges within a half hour of each other makes Scranton and the surrounding area very susceptible to this.

With technology growing, more and more graduates are coming out of school with the kind of tech-savvy that puts them in search of remote companies to join or gives them hopes of self-employment.

But there’s one thing that companies have the upper hand with: People! Working remotely could mean I might not leave my apartment for several days. Things can get lonely. And I hate that.

I definitely lose out on social interactions that would take place in an office setting. I might have a water cooler in my apartment, but there’s no conversation happening around it. This means that even though I could live in Scranton, I might leave anyway, to go to a bigger city- one with more people, more job opportunities, more social events, more chances to interact.

Let me tell you a story.

My friend Dave attended The University of Scranton for six (6) years. He got his Master’s Degree in Software Engineering. He got a job right out of college in Wilkes-Barre. He even taught at The U. Then he left.

He moved to New York City, where he had an amazing job waiting for him- that’s more job opportunities. On top of that, New York City has thousands of meet-ups- that’s  more chances to be social. There is something going on every night because, you guessed it; that’s more people.

These meet-ups aren’t strictly professional events either. Sure, he can go to the Android Developer’s Meet-up or the WordPress Meet-up, where he will hone his developer skills and become better at what he does.

But there are also meet-ups for designers, hikers, philosophers, writers, sports fanatics and more. There, he can just go and socialize and meet new people.

The big difference is my friend Dave goes to an office everyday, where he works with other people from his company. What about remote workers who interact a bit with other people, but don’t get that same person-to-person interaction you get in an office setting? Are we destined to be siloed off for the rest of our work days?

Co-working spaces give you the best of both worlds. They allow people like me (and possibly 30%+ of you) to interact with other freelancers and remote workers.

While doing some research, I used Forbes’ list of the 10 fastest growing cities in the United States to see which ones had co-working spaces. I wasn’t surprised to see that all 10 had more than one space.

So how can co-working revitalize a city?

Cities that help facilitate a flexible work-life through co-working promote a more forward-thinking culture, fully engaging in technology. It boosts creativity and confidence.

It also means that co-working establishes a stronger sense of community. If a city wants to promote growth and keep young people in the area (and every city should), these are the things they need.

You might not have known it, but we have our own co-working space in Scranton called the Entrepreneurial Launch Pad. This co-working space attracts environmentalists, lawyers, social workers, copywriters, educators, filmmakers, musicians, and more – not just web and tech people.

While we are working here, we do interact. We stop. collaborate. and listen.

Co-working is a space where anyone can get together to network and collaborate. And this…this will help the city grow.

I love co-working. I love that Scranton and other smaller cities are embracing it, and I can say with absolute certainty that the existence of one in this area, as well as the ability to work for a company remotely, is what kept me in the area.

Some people might argue how smart I really am for staying here (why Scranton?), but these two factors prevented at least one person from contributing to brain drain in Scranton.

The ability to work wherever I want, have a flexible schedule for better work-life balance, and still have the benefits of working in an office space are the factors ushering in a new generation of employment and workers. The cities that embrace this sooner are the ones that will reap the most benefits.

I fully believe that Co-working Spaces will help us live wherever we want, work and learn wherever and however we want, and help us stay social. It means that dozens of people in different fields could come together as creative professionals.

It means more people will stay in the area. It means people could have the potential to get degrees without amassing a huge amount of debt.

The only question now is: Are you ready to co-work?