Co-working spaces are popping up everywhere in cities all over the world. The days when freelance workers, urban nomads and other flexible creatives could only work and be connected in overcrowded coffee bars are soon to be over, as co-working spaces in a range of different concepts are tapping into this growing target group. The $16 billion dollar phenomenon of WeWork has been hailed as an exemplar case. However, new startup Spacious from New York is doing it differently — they see potential in spaces that are temporarily unused, like restaurants during the day.
The entrepreneurs are calling their idea a “space hack” and a “reprogramming” of urban space. The aim of Spacious is to unlock a hidden network of co-working spaces, starting with dinner-only restaurants to use their space during the day. In cities like New York, where space is scarce and expensive, making use of space that is already available but simply unused during certain times sounds quite genius. Owner Preston Pesek sees it as a bid to reclaim the city for creative professionals. Only in Manhattan and Brooklyn alone, over 2,000 restaurants are not used during the day, meaning a large excess capacity that the city has. Meanwhile, in every coffee shop that you pass by, people are piling on top of each other with laptops.
Spacious Turns New York’s Empty Restaurants Into Co-Working Spaces [Popupcity]