Analysis of Coworking Spaces in Germany

Abstract

The number of Coworking Spaces is growing steadily in Germany and went up from 300 in 2018 to 1.268 in May 2020. According to a study by Savills, almost 90% of all hybrid Spaces and ¾ of all Business centers were located in the seven biggest cities of Germany. The recent developments in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic have shown a significantly increasing demand for more flexible and New Working Spaces in peripheral areas.

This work investigates the structures of Coworking Spaces in Germany. Therefore, 1.121 Coworking Spaces were identified through desk research and assigned to 258 congregations with their demographic and economic data to deduct the geographical distribution of Coworking Spaces in Germany apart from the big 7 cities. To identify Coworking Spaces in peripheral areas, the data was evaluated based on statistical data. In terms of a transdisciplinary approach, the cities and congregations of the dataset were assigned regarding predefined city categories of the real estate and urbanism sector and compared with each other.

Results show that the biggest and most relevant cities for the national and international real estate office market are leading the number of Coworking Spaces in Germany. However, smaller big cities with low importance for the real estate sector are also showing a high number and seem to be attractive for Coworking Spaces. Findings indicate that Coworking Spaces are existing in peripheral areas.