August 9 is International Coworking Day—a celebration of the concept that transformed how millions of people work. It’s a chance to stop and appreciate just how big coworking has become.
But here’s a thought experiment: what if the rise of coworking never happened?
Picture it. No WeWork signs in Manhattan high-rises. No buzzing creative hubs in converted warehouses. No flexible memberships letting you work from Austin on Monday and Amsterdam on Friday. Instead, we’d be living in a world where remote work meant true isolation, where startups needed venture capital just to afford a decent address, and where "work-life balance" was still a myth.
Coworking didn’t just change where we work—it changed how we innovate, connect, and build careers. Let’s explore what we might’ve lost if coworking never took root.
Remote Workers Would Be on an Island
Before coworking, "working from home" often meant exactly that: working alone on the couch or hunched at a kitchen table. A world without coworking would’ve perpetuated this standard and the work-life imbalances that can accompany working where you live.
Without shared spaces, there are fewer chances for human connection. Those crucial moments—hallway conversations, overheard wisdom from the desk next to you, casual exchanges—simply don’t happen. This kills everything from team dynamics to social-emotional wellbeing.
The psychological toll runs deeper than productivity metrics capture. Remote workers without community are more likely to report loneliness and disengagement—a great recipe for burnout.
Without natural boundaries that come from leaving a shared workspace, the line between "work time" and "personal time" dissolves entirely.
Key Takeaway: Coworking gave us something work-from-home can’t: people. Real connections, spontaneous collaborations, and the simple human energy that makes work feel less like work.
Startups Would Still Be Stuck in the Garage
Most “garage startups” don’t actually start in garages—they start in places with Wi-Fi, whiteboards, and plenty of coffee. Without coworking opportunities, bootstrapped founders face a wall of upfront costs: commercial leases, furniture, utilities, insurance. Not to mention the lack of meeting rooms, printers, or even a legitimate business address.
Without accessible shared spaces, the barrier to entry for new ventures skyrockets. Two-person teams can’t afford the same infrastructure as ten-person teams, creating an uneven playing field where innovation becomes a privilege of the well-funded. Startups lose access to the kind of professional environments where they can meet investors, host client meetings, and project credibility.
Perhaps more critically, they miss out on the ecosystem effects. In a world without coworking, there’s no organic cross-pollination between the fintech startup at desk twelve and the marketing agency by the window. Coworking spaces offer a venue where intrepid startups can find everything from their next client to their next hire, or even their first investor.
Key Takeaway: Coworking has helped democratize entrepreneurship by giving small teams access to professional infrastructure and vibrant communities that may not otherwise exist.
Flexibility Would Stay Behind a Keycard
In a world without coworking, flexibility remains a privilege for corporate elites. Before shared spaces went mainstream, office culture ran on rigid rules: Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, in a single location. Want to work somewhere else? Good luck.
Coworking broke that model. It gave freelancers, creatives, consultants, and other nontraditional workers a seat at the table—even if that table was a hot desk several states away. For companies, the model offered a new language of space. No more overpaying for half-empty offices or forcing people into HQ just for optics.
Without coworking, we’re going back to a time where people are tethered by their geography. If you want a career, you move to the city. And if you want the flexibility of working elsewhere, you’re seen as “not present.” Doesn’t sound too productive, does it?
Key Takeaway: Coworking gave workers the freedom to choose where and how they’re most productive. In the process, it transformed flexibility from a rare perk into a standard expectation.
Cities Would Feel Emptier—And Not Just Physically
Cities without coworking spaces would lose their creative pulse. Without shared workspaces filling converted warehouses and breathing life into forgotten districts, entire neighborhoods would remain static. Those buzzing corridors where remote workers grab lunch between meetings, where startup teams celebrate funding rounds, where freelancers discover their new favorite coffee shop—none of that energy would exist. The economic ripple effects run deep:
Local cafés lose their steady stream of laptop-wielding customers
Restaurants miss out on the networking lunch crowds
Retail shops forfeit the foot traffic that comes from an influx of workers
More fundamentally, cities would struggle to attract and retain the creative class—the designers, developers, writers, and entrepreneurs who increasingly define urban economic vitality. The result would be more segmented, less dynamic urban environments where innovation gets siloed into corporate campuses and creative energy gets dispersed instead of concentrated into vibrant, walkable neighborhoods.
Key Takeaway: Coworking spaces are part of the connective tissue of modern cities. They’re economic engines that create the mixed-use vibrancy that makes urban areas truly livable.
Innovation Would Move Like Molasses
Without coworking, we’d lose the spark that comes from people working near each other, even when they’re working on completely different things. Innovation thrives on unexpected connections—the app developer overhearing a conversation about supply chain problems, the graphic designer sharing workflow tips with a data analyst.
In a coworking-less world, these serendipitous encounters simply wouldn’t happen. Ideas would stay trapped within corporate silos or isolated home offices. Testing new concepts would require formal approvals and layers of bureaucratic permission. The rapid iteration and informal feedback loops that fuel modern innovation would slow to a crawl.
For corporations, the impact would be particularly stark. Without the ability to pilot flexible workspace models, companies would remain locked into expensive, long-term real estate commitments that discourage experimentation. Less money for experimentation means more strain on those driving innovation—which traditionally adds up to a lack of it.
Key Takeaway: Coworking gives individuals and companies a low-risk way to experiment with new ways of working, collaborating, and creating value. They’re innovation hubs!
The Future of Coworking: Greener and More Human
We can do more than just appreciate everything coworking has given us over the past decade; we can also be optimistic about its future! Coworking isn’t just surviving—it’s thriving and evolving in exciting ways. Here’s what’s on the horizon:
Explosive Growth: The global coworking market is projected to grow from $23.35 billion in 2024 to $27.64 billion in 2025, meaning more locations, more networks, and more ways to work wherever life takes you.
Smarter Spaces: AI-powered systems are optimizing space usage, app-based desk booking is becoming standard, and lighting that adapts to your preferences is just the beginning of tech-enhanced workspaces.
Wellness Focus: Meditation rooms, wellness programs, and hospitality-style amenities are transforming coworking from "shared desks" to "shared experiences" that prioritize mental health and work-life integration.
Hybrid-First Design: Spaces are being built specifically for the hybrid workforce, with pro-level tech for seamless collaboration between in-person and remote team members.
Community-Driven: The future emphasizes values-led design, sustainability initiatives, and inclusive environments that foster genuine connections over superficial networking. The spaces of the future are being built around specific concepts of community.
Coworking Changed Work (and It’s Still Evolving)
The most revolutionary thing about coworking wasn’t open floor plans or free coffee—it was the quiet demolition of the idea that work has to happen in one specific place, at one specific time, surrounded by one specific group of people. By proving that productivity and community could coexist in flexible, shared environments, coworking didn’t just change where we work; it gave people the agency to design work around their lives, instead of the other way around.
Today, Deskpass is excited to make coworking more accessible than ever. Deskpass helps you access flexible workspaces that match your pace and your preferences, making the freedom to work where and how you want part of your everyday reality. Happy International Coworking Day!
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