International Coworking Day: The History of Coworking
- Aug 9
- 5 min read
Every year on August 9, coworking communities around the world celebrate International Coworking Day, a day dedicated to a simple but powerful idea: work can be more inspiring when we share space, ideas and experiences with others.
At Brainlab Fira, that idea feels especially close to home. Coworking is about much more than having a desk and a good internet connection. It is about being part of an environment where different people, professions and perspectives can meet, connect and grow.
But how did coworking begin? And why do we celebrate International Coworking Day on August 9?
The story takes us back to the end of the 1990s and the beginning of a very different way of thinking about work.
Where did coworking begin?
The story of coworking began before the shared offices and flexible workspaces we know today.
In the late 1990s, new technologies were already changing the relationship between people and the traditional workplace. As working with computers and the internet became increasingly common, new ideas began to emerge around collaboration, independence and how people could work together outside conventional organisational structures.
One of the earliest milestones came in 1999.
According to Xarxa Punt TIC, an initiative of the Generalitat de Catalunya, American game designer and writer Bernard DeKoven was the first person to use the term “coworking.”
But DeKoven wasn't talking about a coworking space.
His use of the word described a collaborative way of working between equals, rather than people sharing a physical office. This distinction is important because it shows that coworking began as an idea about how people work together before becoming associated with where they work.
From a philosophy to a physical space
The next important chapter arrived in San Francisco in 2005.
On August 9, 2005, programmer Brad Neuberg used the term “coworking” in connection with a physical space where professionals could come together to work.
Neuberg was exploring a question that still feels remarkably current more than twenty years later: could you combine the freedom and independence of working for yourself with the community and social interaction of working alongside other people?
His approach brought those two worlds together.
Rather than choosing between working independently and belonging to a workplace community, coworking offered the possibility of having both.
According to the Generalitat's Xarxa Punt TIC, Neuberg's use of the term on August 9, 2005 is the reason International Coworking Day is celebrated every year on August 9.
The beginning of the modern coworking movement
What makes this history particularly interesting is that coworking wasn't simply the invention of another type of office.
It represented a different relationship with work.
DeKoven's original concept emphasised collaboration between people. Neuberg's later interpretation connected that philosophy with a physical environment where independent professionals could actually work alongside one another.
Those ideas (independence, collaboration and community) became central to the coworking movement that followed.
As coworking developed, shared workspaces began bringing together freelancers, entrepreneurs, startups, remote professionals and businesses that might otherwise never have crossed paths.
And although today's coworking spaces look very different from the early experiments of the 2000s, the fundamental idea remains surprisingly familiar:
You can work independently without having to work alone.
From shared desks to shared communities
More than twenty years after that milestone in San Francisco, coworking has developed far beyond the idea of simply sharing an office.
Academic research into coworking describes these spaces as environments where professionals from different backgrounds can work independently while sharing a physical workplace. Research has also associated coworking with values including community, collaboration, openness, accessibility and knowledge sharing.
These qualities help explain why coworking can offer something different from both the traditional office and working alone.
People may arrive with completely different projects, industries and backgrounds, but sharing an environment creates possibilities.
A conversation over coffee can become a new collaboration. The person working at the next table can offer a fresh perspective on a problem. A casual introduction can lead to a client, a partner or simply someone interesting to exchange ideas with.
Those everyday connections are part of what makes coworking different.
A way of working that continues to evolve
The workplace has changed considerably since the early days of coworking.
Professionals today have more possibilities when deciding where and how they work. Freelancers, entrepreneurs, startups, remote workers and companies can all have different expectations of a workplace, but flexibility and connection have become increasingly important parts of the conversation.
Coworking sits at the intersection of those two needs.
It gives people the independence to manage their own work while creating an environment in which professional and social connections can happen naturally.
You can arrive in the morning focused entirely on your own objectives and still leave having exchanged ideas with someone from a completely different profession.
Sometimes those interactions are small. Sometimes they lead somewhere unexpected.
Both are part of the experience.
What coworking means at Brainlab Fira
At Brainlab Fira we believe a workspace should give people room to focus while also creating opportunities to connect.
It should be a place where you can have a productive morning, meet other professionals, exchange ideas and feel part of a community without losing the flexibility and independence that have been part of the coworking idea from the beginning.
For us, that balance matters.
A workspace provides the setting, but it is the people inside it who create the experience.
Every person who walks through the doors brings something different: a project, a business, an area of expertise, an ambition, a challenge or simply a different perspective.
Put those people together in the same environment and a workplace can become something more than the sum of its desks.
International Coworking Day at Brainlab Fira
International Coworking Day gives us an opportunity to look back at how the movement began, but it is also a day to celebrate what coworking represents today.
Independence. Flexibility. Collaboration. Openness. Community.
And, above all, people.
So this August 9, we want to celebrate everyone who makes Brainlab Fira what it is: the professionals building businesses, developing ideas, working remotely, launching new projects, sharing conversations and contributing to our community every day.
The way we work has changed enormously since the term “coworking” first appeared.
The spaces have changed.
The technology has changed.
The possibilities have changed.
But one idea remains particularly relevant:
Working independently doesn't have to mean working alone.
Because sometimes the best part of going to work isn't simply where you work.
It's who you work alongside.
Happy International Coworking Day from Brainlab Fira!
Sources
Generalitat de Catalunya – Xarxa Punt TIC:
9 August, International Coworking Day - https://punttic.gencat.cat/esdeveniment/9-dagost-dia-international-del-coworking.
Ajuntament de Barcelona / Barcelona Activa:
Coworkings in Catalonia – State of the Art -https://bcnroc.ajuntament.barcelona.cat/jspui/bitstream/11703/112759/1/EstudiBA_2017_Coworkings.pdf.
Academic research available through PubMed Central:
Research on coworking spaces, their characteristics and the role of community, collaboration and knowledge sharing - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7497231/.
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