The 21st century economy is knowledge-intensive, creative and flourishing in larger urban centres. Less is known about how smaller urban centres are faring in this new economy. This research aims to fill that gap by exploring whether mid-sized cities, in a designated growth area in Ontario, Canada, can leverage the knowledge economy and foster local economic development to help revitalize their ailing downtowns. Through a case study approach, this research looks at the role that coworking, or shared workspaces, can play in the local economy of mid-sized cities in Ontario. Recognizing the role that community-based actors play in urban affairs, this paper uses a local economic development framework to explore the role of coworking spaces in the urban economic fabric of mid-sized city downtowns. Survey responses and interviews, coupled with insights from global surveys on coworking and a literature review, begin to tell the story of how economic change is playing out in mid-sized cities, illustrating the importance of an innovative, collaborative and inclusive approaches to city building and local economic development.
AvdikosVKalogeresisA (2016)
Socio-economic profile and working conditions of freelancers in co-working spaces and work collectives: Evidence from the design sector in Greece. Area49(1): 35–42.
2.
BelkR (2014)
You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online. Journal of Business Research67(8): 1595–1600.
3.
BlakelyELeighN (2010) Planning Local Economic Development: Theory and Practice. 4th ed.
Thousand Oaks, CA:
SAGE Publications Ltd.
BotsmanRRogersR (2010) What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption.
New York:
Harper-Collins.
6.
Bouncken R. & Reuschl A (2018) Coworking-spaces: how a phenomenon of the sharing economy builds a novel trend for the workplace and for entrepreneurship. Review of Managerial Science 12(1): 317–334.
7.
BradshawTBlakelyE (1999)
What are “third-wave” state economic development efforts? From incentives to industrial policy. Economic Development Quarterly13(3): 229–244.
8.
BramwellAPierreJ (2017)
New community spaces: Regional governance in the public interest in the Greater Toronto Area new community spaces: Network governance and the “New” regionalism. Urban Affairs Review53(3): 603–627.
9.
BuntingTFilionPHoernigHet al. (2007)
Density, size, dispersion: Towards understanding the structural dynamics of mid-size cities. Canadian Journal of Urban Research16(2): 27–52.
10.
BurayidiM (2013) Resilient Downtowns: A New Approach to Revitalizing Small and Medium City Downtowns. 1st ed.
New York:
Routledge.
11.
CairncrossF (1997) The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Is Changing Our Lives.
Cambridge:
Harvard Business Press.
12.
CapdevilaI (2015)
Co-working spaces and the localised dynamics of innovation in Barcelona. International Journal of Innovation Management19(3): 1–28.
FilionP (2007) The urban growth centres strategy in the greater golden horseshoe: Lessons from downtowns, nodes, and cooridors. Report, Neptis Foundation, Toronto, May 2007.
17.
FilionPHammondK (2008)
When planning fails: Downtown malls in mid-size cities. Canadian Journal of Urban Research17(2): 1–27.
18.
FilionPHoernigHBuntingTet al. (2004)
The successful few: Healthy downtowns of small metropolitan regions. Journal of the American Planning Association70(3): 328–343.
19.
FloridaR (2002) The Rise of the Creative Class: How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life.
New York:
Basic Books.
20.
FloridaR (2003)
Cities and the creative class. City and Community2(March): 3–19.
21.
FloridaR (2017) The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class – And What We Can Do about It.
New York:
Basic Books.
22.
GadGMatthewM (2000) Central and suburban downtowns. In: FilionPBuntingTGertlerL (eds) Canadian Cities in Transition.
Toronto:
Oxford University Press, pp.248–273.
23.
GandiniA (2015)
The rise of coworking spaces: A literature review. Ephemera15(1): 193–205.
24.
GertlerM (2003) Smart growth and the regional economy. Report. Neptis Foundation, Toronto.
25.
GillRPrattA (2008)
In the social factory?: Immaterial labour, precariousness and cultural work. Theory, Culture & Society25(7–8): 1–30.
26.
GrantJ (2006) Shaped by planning: The Canadian city through time. In: BuntingTFilionP (eds) Canadian Cities in Transition.
Toronto:
Oxford University Press, pp.320–337.
27.
GratzR (1989) The Living City.
New York:
Simon and Schuster.
28.
HallHHallP (2008)
Decline and no growth: The Canadian urban system. Canadian Journal of Regional Science31(1): 1–18.
29.
HamariJSjoklintMUkkonenA (2015)
The sharing economy: Why people participate in collaborative consumption. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology67(9): 2047–2059.
30.
HodgeGGordonD (2008) Planning Canadian Communities: An Introduction to the Principles, Practice, and Participants. 5th ed.
Toronto:
Nelson Education.
31.
JamalA (2015)
Are downtowns back? Implementing the growth plan in Ontario’s midsized cities. Municipal World125(9): 19–21.
32.
JohalSZonN (2015) Policymaking for the sharing economy: Beyond whack-a-mole. Report, Mowat Centre, Toronto, Februrary.
33.
LeighNBlakelyE (2017) Planning Local Economic Development: Theory and Practice. 6th ed.
Thousand Oaks:
SAGE Publications Ltd.
34.
MadanipourA (2011) Knowledge Economy and the City: Spaces of Knowledge.
New York:
Routledge.
35.
MerkelJ (2015)
Coworking in the city. Ephemera15(1): 121–139.
36.
MomaniBKhirfanL (2013)
Explaining the use of planning consultants in Ontario cities. Canadian Public Administration56(3): 391–413.
37.
OldenburgR (1999) The Great Good Place.
New York:
Marlowe, Company.
Ontario (2006) Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
41.
PorterM (2000)
Location, competition, and economic development: Local clusters in a global economy. Economic Development Quarterly14(1): 15–34.
42.
RobertsonK (2001) Downtown development principles for small cities. In: BurayidiM (ed) Downtowns: Revitalizing the Centers of Small Urban Communities.
New York:
Routledge, pp.9–22.
43.
SchmidtSBrinksVBrinkhoffS (2015)
Innovation and creativity labs in Berlin: Organizing temporary spatial configurations for innovations. Zeitschrift Fur Wirtschaftsgeographie58(4): 232–247.
44.
ScottAJ (2012) A World in Emergence: Cities and Regions in the 21st Century.
Cheltenham:
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
45.
ScottAJ (2014)
Beyond the creative city: Cognitive–cultural capitalism and the new urbanism. Regional Studies 48(4): 1–14.
46.
SeasonsM (2003)
Indicators and core area planning: Applications in Canada’s mid-sized cities. Planning Practice and Research18(1): 63–80.
47.
SpinuzziC (2012)
Working alone together: Coworking as emergent collaborative activity. Journal of Business and Technical Communication26(4): 399–441.
48.
StorperMScottAJ (2009)
Rethinking human capital, creativity and urban growth. Journal of Economic Geography9(2): 147–167.
49.
SurmanT (2013)
Building social entrepreneurship through the power of coworking. Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization8(3): 189–195.
50.
SykesK (2014)
Coworking: A workplace paradigm shift. Contract55(6): 140.
51.
VinodraiT (2010) The dynamics of economic change in Canadian cities: Innovation, culture, and the emergence of the knowledge-based economy. In: BuntingTFilionPWalkerR (eds) Canadian Cities in Transition: New Directors in the Twenty-First Century.
Toronto:
Oxford University Press, 87–109.
52.
VinodraiT (2013)
Design in a downturn? Creative work, labour market dynamics and institutions in comparative perspective. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society6(1): 159–176.
53.
VinodraiT (2015) Economic change in Canadian Cities: Innovation, creativity and the knowledge-based economy. In: FilionPMoosMVinodraiTet al. (eds) Canadian Cities in Transition. 5th ed.
Toronto:
Oxford University Press, pp.67–87.
54.
WachsM (2013)
Turning cities inside out: Transportation and the resurgence of downtowns in North America. Transportation40(6): 1159–1172.
55.
WalkerPL (2009) Downtown Planning for Smaller and Midsized Communities.
Chicago:
American Planning Association.
56.
Waters-LynchJPottsJButcherTet al. (2016) Coworking: A transdisciplinary overview. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2712217 (accessed February 15 2018).
57.
WhiteR (2007) The Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe in Historical Perspective. Report, Neptis Foundation, Toronto, December.
58.
WolfeD (2014) Introduction. In: WolfeD (ed.) Innovating in Urban Economies: Economic Transformation in Canadian City-Regions.
Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, pp.3–32.
