The Co-Workplace

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

From her more than 15 years of in-depth research of co-workplace
teleworking situations, the University of Waterloo’s Laura Johnson has
produced this academically sound yet accessible volume. Her study
encompasses the dual perspectives of workers and employers in the field
and is based on literature searches, case studies, personal interviews,
the results of an Internet survey, and follow-ups with respondents by
telephone and email. The 25 private and public shared facilities Johnson
examined included the satellite offices of established businesses;
authors’, artists’, and architects’ studios; law offices; and
telecommuting sites. Using an anecdotally narrative style and the
traditional reliance on statistics, authoritative quotations, and
research citations, she describes the evolution of the co-workplace
concept, notes its advantages and disadvantages, discusses the trends
toward it, records what can be learned from existing models, and
presents six highly interesting scenarios of “imagined land uses on
actual properties.”

The six intriguing representations illustrate the potential for
teleworking ventures in a suburban telecommuting centre, a converted
heritage building, a high-rise building with ground-floor businesses, a
strip mall site, a renovated house in a residential area, and a
converted warehouse. A set of evaluation criteria indicates which sites
might be most easily or successfully adapted, while a set of conclusions
establishes the needs to be met for their implementation. Johnson’s
final chapter establishes that “[t]he co-workplace is not a fiction”
and elaborates on the practicalities of the developments, touching on
the social, financial, environmental, and urban planning issues that
must be faced.

Johnson’s book will appeal to anyone currently engaged in
co-workplace activities, those considering such engagement, and
professionals such as academics, urban planners, and policy-makers.
Futurists will find The Co-Workplace a rewarding read as well.