New Workspaces in Milan and Berlin. Coworking Spaces Between Defensive Strategies and Transformative Potential

This chapter investigates the transformative and alternative potential of such spaces through empirical research in Milan and Berlin. In particular, the chapter first introduces coworking spaces and their (functional, urban, and symbolic) role in contemporary urban spaces, and then critically discusses them from three different perspectives: (1) their embeddedness in evolving urban economies; (2) the role they play vis-à-vis the characters and evolutionary trends of the urban spaces they are located in; and (3) the potential for aggregation and construction of new forms of political representation for precarious workers. A concluding paragraph looks into the conditions under which coworking spaces might be seen as alternative urban spaces.