1. “There’s a temptation in our networked age to think that ideas can be
developed by email and iChat. That’s crazy.
Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions.
You run into someone, you ask what they’re doing, you say ‘Wow,” and soon
you’re cooking up all sorts of ideas.”
- Steve Jobs
Innovation Space
Heather Blanchard, The American University of Paris
May 15, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

2. Research Question
✤ How do space and landscape provide tangible (i.e. shared
resources) and intangible (i.e. sense of community)
benefits for entrepreneurs?
✤ What are the benefits of these spaces?
✤ What are the environmental condition of these spaces?
✤ Is communal working and co-creation necessary (or not)
for innovation?
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

3. Background
✤ Brad Neuberg, San Francisco
Co-Working Space
✤ Fiscal Model (Members,
Sponsorship, Govt, Private
Sector, Public-Private
Partnership)
✤ Member Model (Co-Working,
Incubator, Maker,
Hackerspace)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

4. Participant Observation
La Cantine // Paris The Hub // Brussels DojoBoost // Paris
DojoBoost: http://paris.startupweekend.org/files/2012/04/photo-e1333529790480-300x225.jpg
DojoBoost: http://tinyurl.com/7te79rp
The Hub: http://www.amaranthe.be/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/the-hub-brussels-1.jpg
The Hub: http://coworktm.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/thehubbrussels.jpg
La Cantine: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c6/ARTESI_Barcamp_Paris_LaCantine_2ndeLife.JPG
La Cantine Photo: http://www.cooltownstudios.com/2008/04/29/paris-version-of-coworking-with-cafe
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

5. Learning Theory
✤ Process Architect (Horgen, Joroff,
Porter and Schon, 1999)
✤ Learning Theory: Tacit Knowledge;
Unconscious Transfer; Learning
(Schephers and van den Berg; 2007)
✤ Experiential Learning (Kolb, 1984)
✤ Mediated Experience, Relation of Two
(Land, 1967)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

6. Sense of Community
✤ Antisocial Inclusion (Forlano, Yale
Law)
✤ Creationism vs. Optimization (La
Cantine Interview)
✤ Contrived Culture (Pixar)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

7. Power Dynamics
✤ Framing; Circulation (Lury; 2006)
✤ Only the organization can change (Management Theory, Peter
Drucker )
✤ Adhocracy is adaptive. Its generated from its environment. (Schepers
and van den Berg, 2007)
✤ Building from the ground up; Opt-In (Gelfer, space owner)
✤ Challenge: Hidden power structures (Penn, Desyllas & Vaughn, 1997)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

8. Private Sector
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

9. Results
✤ Production (still) is social
convention, greater benefits
✤ Modularity (location agnostic)
✤ Learning, choice, mediation,
collaboration
✤ Value: Network, learning,
mediated circulation
Tuesday, May 15, 2012