Italian Experiences in Coworking Spaces During the Pandemic

Abstract The chapter presents and discusses the results of two surveys addressed to coworking spaces managers in Italy, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The strategies coworking spaces have adopted to cope with the pandemic are described, and the determinants of the coworking resilience level (e.g., size, ownership, sector specialisation, hybridization) are presented. It is explored how the coworking spaces managers have kept the community alive and the perception of the interviewees about the future in the two years. The results of the survey in 2021 show that the average level of profitability and confidence in coworking performance returned to the pre-pandemic level. The pandemic has underlined a potential key role of CSs in enhancing work-life balance and promoting the socio-economic development of peripheral and rural areas. Besides, during the pandemic, Southern Italy has attracted remote workers (e.g., “southworkers”), and promoted the so-called ‘community garrisons’, willing to host them and ‘retain’ young people.