3

In the digital age, non-profit and community coworking spaces are promoted in the academic literature and the media as open workplaces that facilitate networking and exchange. This article sheds light on the diversity of these spaces’ openness to users and territories. Based on coworking spaces’ degree of openness to potential co-workers and to the territory, with a view to participating in local social life, I identify and define three main models of spaces. The first is open and follows a hive model, in terms of both the reception of co-workers and openness to the territory. The second is closed and resembles an island, entry to which is governed by a selection system that allows only a small group of individuals to access the coworking space. The third lies in between the two. These three models produce different dynamics when it comes to opening office space to users and engagement to participate in the social life of the territory. I identify the nature of the project as envisaged by coworking spaces’ founders and the presence of a community manager as the main drivers of this differentiation.