1156 | 56 | Geographies of coworking spaces and platform-mediated digital nomad mobilities in rural Catalonia | Julie Wilson, Lluís Garay, Carles Méndez, Inés Gutiérrez, Mar Alsina

Research on coworking practices in relation to digital nomadism is increasingly prevalent, although the subsequent impacts of both phenomena on rural regions remain relatively under-researched. More specifically, few studies have focused on coworking spaces’ locational factors, taxonomies and typologies in relation to digital nomad mobilities in rural regions. Research on such scenarios lends itself well to an evolutionary economic geography [EEG] approach, particularly in terms of the coevolution of coworking spaces and digital nomad mobilities and lifestyles, as well as the digital platforms and interregional networks that intermediate them and their associated socio-spatial, economic and creative contexts. This paper applies such an approach via a multi-phase, mixed-methods analysis of a digital platform (Cowocat Rural) that intermediates a network of rural coworking spaces and their users in Catalonia, Spain. Conceptually, the proposal draws on the notions of entropy and concentration/specialisation and involves a bibliometric review, a netnographic analysis of conversations on rural coworking spaces, a taxonomy of Cowocat Rural’s spaces and a series of in-depth interviews with key agents. This triangulated approach enabled multidimensional analyses of the socioeconomic, social and creativity contexts and mobilities flows within which Cowocat’s coworking spaces are situated.

Julie Wilson, Lluís Garay, Carles Méndez, Inés Gutiérrez, Mar Alsina
Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

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ID Abstract: 56