Sharing economy: makerspaces, co-working spaces, hybrid workplaces, and new social practices

This chapter looks into the diffusion of new types of workspaces in the Milan urban region, such as hybrid spaces for creative and cultural production, maker-spaces and, specifically, coworking spaces. After a short overview of the main economic trends and their effects in terms of spatial organisation of production in the city, the chapter argues that such diffusion has a significant transformative potential, but is not devoid of pitfalls, in particular as far as these spaces risk to become exclusive islands and club goods, rather than generative urban hubs.