Is Your Coworking Space Truly Inclusive—or Just Open?
As coworking spaces and collaborative hubs redefine the geography of work, a critical question demands attention: who truly feels at home in these “third places”? While designers boast of ergonomic openness and digital access, there is a less visible barrier—language—that continues to determine who participates, who hesitates, and who is heard.
Linguistic Inequality in a Supposedly Flat World
Recent narratives treat coworking spaces as inherently egalitarian. Yet, research reveals a different story: discourse in such environments is stratified by language fluency, modality, and social alignment (Spinuzzi, 2012; Gandini, 2015; Merkel, 2015). In multilingual contexts like India, the dominance of English becomes a form of silent gatekeeping, sidelining those who code-switch or prefer regional tongues (Pennycook, 2017; Canagarajah, 2012).
What the Data Say: Results from a Mixed-Methods Inquiry
In a recent study conducted by our research team, we analyzed interactional, survey, and computational data from 128 participants across 12 coworking and innovation spaces in India, spanning urban, semi-urban, and rural contexts. Through a combination of Latent Class Analysis and NLP-based discourse modeling, we identified four user typologies: Digital Nomads, Community Builders, Passive Observers, and Entrepreneurial Migrants. Each exhibited unique linguistic behaviors—ranging from directive-heavy English dominance to multilingual hedging and code-switching.
For instance, Digital Nomads displayed the highest directive frequency (M = 41) and English usage proportion (0.88), while Passive Observers had the highest code-switching frequency (M = 46) and lowest lexical diversity. Computational tools such as LIWC and sentiment analysis revealed that user groups with reduced directive presence and higher hedging also reported lower perceived inclusion and engagement. These findings make clear that language—not just location—structures participation in shared workspaces.
Toward Linguistic Justice in Collaborative Design
To build truly inclusive third places, it’s not enough to offer Wi-Fi and free coffee. We must recognize linguistic equity as a central tenet of design. This includes multilingual signage, inclusive onboarding, facilitator training to identify discursive marginality, and embracing diverse expressive formats like voice notes and informal text. Coworking cannot be collaborative if users feel linguistically disoriented or silenced.
A Call for Interdisciplinary Response
The linguistic layer of inclusion demands greater integration between sociolinguistics, spatial design, and innovation policy. It is not a matter of correcting users’ speech, but of listening structurally. Linguistic agency must be reclaimed—not just as a communication skill but as a right within collaborative ecosystems.
References
Bouncken, R. B., & Reuschl, A. J. (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, 317–334.
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies, 7(4–5), 585–614.
Canagarajah, S. (2012). Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203073889
Capdevila, I. (2015). Co-working spaces and the localised dynamics of innovation in Barcelona. International Journal of Innovation Management, 19(3), 1540004.
Gandini, A. (2015). The rise of coworking spaces: A literature review. Ephemera, 15(1), 193–205.
Merkel, J. (2015). Coworking in the city. Ephemera, 15(1), 121–139.
Pennycook, A. (2017). The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315225593
Spinuzzi, C. (2012). Working alone together: Coworking as emergent collaborative activity. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 26(4), 399–441.
Tagg, C. (2015). Exploring digital discourse: Language in action. Discourse, Context & Media, 7, 1–2.
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Dr. Soumya Sankar Ghosh is a Senior Assistant Professor at VIT Bhopal University, currently focusing on the intersection of public health engagement and language communication. With a Ph.D. in Linguistics, his research is dedicated to optimizing communication strategies in health crises. Dr. Ghosh’s work contributes significant insights into the effective use of language in public health contexts. He can be contacted at [email protected]
