In may 2009, during a trip to SF, we were invited by an acquaintance, Candide Kemmler, to visit a very exciting place where freelances and startup could get in touch with the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. Arriving from Brussels, we had never heard of Citizen Space before. I remember the first impression I got while entering the space :"hey, how can they stay all day in this windowless warehouse ?" Then we had the lunch with some of the members who told us how good it was to be part of such an energetic community. I'm not sure we mentioned the term coworking, then.
Back to Europe, we kept in mind this experience. When The Hub opened, a few months later, we started to enjoy the reality of coworking. We could say : we have this space now in Brussels. Look what they achieved with the Citizen Space in San Francisco, the Walhalla of entrepreneurs. 20 months later, six coworking spaces have opened in Belgium. As many are incubating. The story is the same in Germany or France. Citizen space is not the only coworking model we can find in the community. But it's a symbol. You guys have been incredibly important for the rise of coworking far beyond the Bay area. However, whether you like it or not, the end of this chapter for Citizen Space is not a good news. An analysis of what led to this exit is maybe as important for the community. Why did CS see its momentum decrease in SF ? Is it due to the growing competition within the coworking industry in the area ? Did Citizen Space lose contact with its natural public ? Are the values changing ? Etc. Tara, Hilary, I hope you will share your thoughts with us about that. All the best for the next era of CS. Jean-Yves Huwart Coworking Europe 2010 conference On Feb 12, 4:29 pm, Margaret Rosas <marga...@quiddities.com> wrote: > Tara, > > I applaud you for your never ending contributions to coworking. Do you > recall the cohopping tour in December 2007? That event inspired a > movement in Santa Cruz. Several Santa Cruzans (Rob Knight, Tracy Smith > and William Lawrence) came into the city to see what the coworking > movement was all about. They came back enthused and invigorated and > the spark was lit for Santa Cruz. That spark passed off to Jeremy > Neuner who started NextSpace. > > The movement you and Chris (and others I know) started inspired us to > create a Santa Cruz that did not previously exist. Our community today > is transformed because of your contributions. I talk more about it in > a video here:http://ipsociety.net/admin/coworking-santa-cruz-margaret-rosas. > It's a bit long .... but I get to the story eventually! > > I'm excited about the future for coworking and the next wave. You > should be beaming with every ounce of your beautiful self!! > > Hugs, > > Margaret > > On Sat, Feb 12, 2011 at 4:19 AM, IDEA REPUBLIC > > > > <peteschr...@googlemail.com> wrote: > > thank you Tara & Chris! citizen space and its vision was the best > > practice example needed so badly to make coworking in germany (http:// > >www.coworking.de) possible to happen in the early days back than in > > 2008! > > > Peter > > > On 11 Feb., 21:34, Tara Hunt <horsepig...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Mark your calendars for late March as we are going to have the biggest > >> closing party you've ever witnessed. > > >>http://www.horsepigcow.com/2011/02/citizen-space-end-of-one-era-begin... > > >> -- > >> tara 'missrogue' hunt > > >> Company: Shwowp (http://www.shwowp.com) > >> Book: The Whuffie Factor > >> (http://www.horsepigcow.com/book-the-whuffie-factor/) > >> Blog: HorsePigCow: Marketing Uncommon (http://horsepigcow.com) > >> Twitter:http://www.twitter.com/missrogue > >> phone: 514-679-2951 > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Coworking" group. > > To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > > -- > Margaret Rosas > Founder & Chief Strategist > Quiddities - A Creative Web Solutions Agency > > http://quiddities.com > 831.466.0110 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
