Proximity, Community and Knowledge Creation and Sharing in Creative Hubs

• Grant number: 18/26755-1
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: July 01, 2019 - December 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal researcher: Davi Noboru Nakano
• Grantee: Davi Noboru Nakano
• Home Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Emerson Gomes dos Santos ; Mikko Sakari Koria ; Morag Elizabeth Shiach ; Rosana Aparecida Vasques ; Tarek Elie Virani

Abstract

Two very different trends meet today in large metropolitan areas. On the one hand, new work relations, enhanced by digital technology, the increasing use project based work, within a context of economic crisis, and on the other, concepts related to collaboration, community and sharing, efficient and sustainable use of resources. These two forces are creating a new work environment in large metropolitan areas. It is manifested, for instance, in Collectives, organized groups of practitioners of a common activity or interest, and in Shared workspaces (Coworkings), which offer infrastructure and possibility of interaction to freelancers, nascent enterprises and even large companies´ departments. The Creative Hub concept was coined to identify those urban manifestations, both organized and spontaneous, which proliferate in large metropolitan areas, based on ideas and concepts such as sustainability, shared economy and networked society. Creative hubs are urban clusters, which connect entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized creative companies. The concept has been used in UK public policies for urban regeneration since 2003 and have become a key concept for policy makers. Despite this fact, research is not abundant, especially in other countries and cultural contexts. This project succeeds and aims to expand the results of a previous one conducted by USP and Queen Mary University of London in 2016 and 2017, in which two dynamics were identified in creative hubs: the top down, related to large, global brand coworkings, and the bottom up, present in collectives and other cultural and creative initiatives The objective is to explore how the mechanisms of knowledge creation and sharing in two types of hubs, using two theoretical backgrounds: one from the study of organizations and the other from industrial clusters. The first understands creative hubs as communities, where the sense of community is developed, while the second points out that creative hubs and industrial clusters share characteristics at different scales. Using the case study method, this project will investigate how the sense of community, anchored in membership, integration, influence and emotional ties and the organizational, social, cognitive and institutional proximities affect knowledge creation and sharing, and in which extent the two models create knowledge spillovers. This project also starts an academic collaboration with Loughbourough University of London, and its findings will contribute to the theory, as there is limited discussion on creative hubs and colocated work in urban settings, and their impact on knowledge creation and innovation and it will also support policies for urban development. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

NAKANO, DAVI; SHIACH, MORAG; KORIA, MIKKO; VASQUES, ROSANA; DOS SANTOS, EMERSON GOMES; VIRANI, TAREK. Coworking spaces in urban settings: Prospective roles?. GEOFORUM, v. 115, p. 135-137, OCT 2020. Web of Science Citations: 0.