This paper investigates the changes in neighbourhood attractiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic (2020) compared to the year before in 2019 in the city of Milan. Central neighbourhoods recorded a drop in users from -63% to -47%, while the peripheral areas showed a relatively steady presence during the day. Indeed, remote working and the fear of public transport led to rethinking commuting and re-value working close to home. Semi-peripheral and peripheral neighbourhoods have gained a renewed role in attracting remote workers, and coworking spaces represent a valuable alternative for those willing to improve work-life balance through near working. Within this context, the paper aims to:(i) measure the presence of remote workers at the neighbourhood level; (ii) explore the accessibility to coworking spaces within 15 minutes of walking and cycling distance; (iii) focus on three peripheral neighbourhoods which show the lowest number of city users loss, do not host CSs, and present different levels of essential services and access to subway stations. The three cases are explored to understand whether they are considered feasible locations for hosting a neighbourhood coworking space. The change of the city users' presence in the Milan neighbourhoods in 2019-2020 is analysed using «TIM Big Data – Data Visual Insight», which includes the presence and mobility of the TIM mobile network’s users.

With a rising globalization of the economy and society, the digital transformation, and the economic downturn started in 2008, working is becoming less dependent on distance, location, and time. These are some of the reasons that have fostered the development and diffusion of new working spaces like coworking spaces. The paper aims at exploring the location determinants of coworking spaces, an issue that has been less developed by the literature up to now. By focusing on the 549 coworking spaces located in Italy at the year 2018, the paper investigates the location factors of such workplaces, and the attractiveness of large cities as well as peripheral areas. The results of the descriptive statistics and the econometric analysis (a Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial model is applied) confirm that coworking is mainly an urban phenomenon, since coworking spaces tend to be knowledge-intensive places for creative people. Specifically, the municipalities showing higher innovation and entrepreneurial environment (i.e. major cities) are preferred locations. Besides, it is discussed whether coworking spaces may contribute to fostering the development of peripheral and inner areas in Italy, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic where the share of teleworkers outside metropolitan areas has massively increased.

Coworking space is predominantly an urban phenomenon. Nevertheless, in the last few years, peripheral and rural areas are becoming attractive for this typology of new working spaces, but the literature on this topic is scant. The current paper aims to fill this gap by reviewing the studies on this issue and discussing the renewed role of coworking spaces in peripheral and rural areas during the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on Italy. Moreover, a detailed and updated picture of the increasing number of coworking spaces in 2018-2020 in the Italian Inner Areas and rural areas is provided. Finally, some case studies of peripheral and rural coworking spaces are presented, followed by conclusions and further research.