City, space and place in the digital age : an analysis of how technology shapes our everyday experience of space in cities : a case-study analysis of a coworking space : second home Lisbon

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is the analysis of how technology shapes our everyday experience of space in cities. Focusing on a new urban typology, the coworking space, it looks towards emerging practices, and new patterns of behaviour, shaped or mediated by technology. Current literature projects an increasingly greater impact of technology on society, ranging from the very concept of ‘smart cities’ to the manner in which personal devices seamlessly integrate into our lives. In order to access this impact, the current work relied on the case-study analysis of a coworking space – Second Home Lisbon – which stands out in the local context for its unique spatiality and strong cultural programme. After the elaboration of the theoretical framework, documental analysis provided a complete recognition of the object, and finally, in situ observational research was undertaken for a month, and a members’ survey was conducted. For the observational research process, a grid of analysis was developed, consisting of several categories: privacy, community, mobility, communication, cooperation, and legacy patterns. It was argued that all these categories have a spatial underpinning and, in addition to informing on a specific layer of the object, they also constitute relevant dimensions of everyday life, which have potentially been affected by technology. As a conclusion, this work highlights the contradiction between the apparent dematerializing of work and the growing number of spaces for working, asserting the importance of place, still. Furthermore, it considers that technology has affected the way we experience space, and that is seen on the coworking space on both a macro or external level, in the conceptual co-construction of the narratives of the coworking space and, on a micro or internal level, in the manner in which people perceive and appropriate the space