Coworking and an Outer-urban community: What can we learn from a grassroots community coworking hub?

This report presents an introduction to grassroots coworking by members of a community working and living in an Outer Melbourne city. The aim of the study was to explore how cities might extend their focus on people and innovation and aim for the individual/collective cultivation of living and working spaces that foster coworking and mobility of communities of future workers. Melbourne has an international reputation as one of the world’s most livable cities. However, rapid growth in outer Melbourne suburbs has meant that these suburbs often lag behind the rest of Melbourne in terms of the availability of physical infrastructure and other services. Drawing on an exemplar of grassroots coworking in Outer Melbourne, this report presents the findings from four focus group discussions conducted during Spring 2017 and serves as a first step in an ongoing investigation into the potential to innovate and nature of coworking issues facing people in outer Melbourne suburbs. Most of the twenty-five participants were members of a grassroots coworking hub, and either intended to be or were already involved, in small enterprises. The participants were mostly white-collar, skilled professionals living in pockets throughout the Wyndham, Melbourne area.