Regional Coworking: Dr. Felicia Fai on Why Coworking Is More Than Space

Regional Coworking: Dr. Felicia Fai on Why Coworking Is More Than Space

Regional coworking is doing far more than providing desks, offices, and meeting rooms. In towns, villages, secondary cities, and rural communities, independent coworking spaces are helping entrepreneurs build confidence, create new pathways into business, support local connections, and quietly strengthen regional economies.

In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, GCUC Founder and Host Liz Elam sits down with Dr. Felicia Fai, Associate Professor in Innovation and Regional Resilience at the University of Bath School of Management, for a research-backed conversation about what coworking spaces actually do for entrepreneurs, communities, and local economies.

Dr. Fai is one of the few academics seriously studying the impact of coworking beyond major city centers. Her work focuses on independent operators, regional resilience, entrepreneurship, inclusivity, and the role coworking spaces can play in shaping stronger local ecosystems.

Why Regional Coworking Belongs in the Policy Conversation

Dr. Fai did not come to coworking as an operator. She came to it through research.

Her academic background began with studying how companies use innovation and technological diversification to become more resilient. Over time, her work expanded into regional development, industrial strategy, and the ways businesses, universities, and governments work together to support local economies.

That path eventually led her to coworking.

In the UK, Dr. Fai noticed a gap. While there had been research in places like Italy about how coworking spaces support regional growth, there was not as much focus on how coworking operates across the UK beyond London. What she found was important: outside of major urban hubs, independent coworking spaces were already doing meaningful work to support entrepreneurs, build community, and create local opportunity.

The challenge is that many policymakers still do not fully understand that value.

Too often, coworking spaces are viewed as office rental businesses. But as Dr. Fai explains, they are much more than that. They are community builders inside their four walls and beyond them.

They connect people. They connect entrepreneurs to support. They connect businesses to local networks. In many places, they also connect to schools, colleges, charities, councils, and community organizations.

That is why regional coworking deserves to be part of larger conversations around economic development, entrepreneurship, social cohesion, and the future of work.

Coworking Spaces as Place Shapers

One of the strongest ideas from the conversation is that coworking spaces should be seen as “place shapers.”

A place shaper is not simply a business that exists in a community. It is an organization that helps shape the community around it.

For coworking operators, that can look like hosting local events, supporting early-stage founders, creating informal learning opportunities, partnering with universities, working with councils, or building a trusted environment where people can connect across industries and backgrounds.

This is especially important in regional areas where access to formal business support may be limited, intimidating, or poorly matched to how people actually begin their entrepreneurial journeys.

Dr. Fai explains that some people using coworking spaces do not even recognize themselves as entrepreneurs yet. They may be experimenting with an idea, starting a side project, freelancing, or slowly building confidence. A traditional business support program might not reach them because the language feels too formal or too advanced.

Coworking spaces can meet people earlier.

They create the casual conversations, peer support, and everyday visibility that help people begin to see themselves as business owners, founders, or entrepreneurs.

The Data Problem Holding Coworking Back

Liz and Dr. Fai also discuss one of the biggest challenges facing the coworking industry: the lack of strong impact data.

The industry has no shortage of powerful stories. Operators see the impact every day. They see members launch businesses, hire employees, build confidence, collaborate, and grow. But stories alone are not always enough to influence policymakers, funders, or local government.

To make the case for more support, coworking needs better data.

That does not only mean operational data like occupancy, revenue, or meeting room usage. Those numbers matter, but they do not capture the full impact of a coworking space.

Dr. Fai argues that the industry also needs to track broader outcomes, such as:

• How many new businesses are born in the space
• How many businesses grow while using the space
• How many members move from coworking into offices or larger premises
• How many people gain confidence, skills, or connections through the community
• How many local partnerships are created
• How coworking spaces support underserved entrepreneurs
• How spaces contribute to regional resilience and social cohesion

This is where regional coworking has a major opportunity. If operators can better measure and communicate their impact, they can make a stronger case for funding, policy support, and deeper partnerships with local government.

As Liz points out in the episode, many of the spaces that have historically tracked impact well were required to do so because they received public funding. But independent operators often do not have the same time, tools, or incentives to follow the full member journey after someone leaves the space.

That creates a gap.

The impact is happening, but it is not always being captured.

Beyond Revenue: Measuring the Human Impact of Coworking

One of the most important points Dr. Fai makes is that not all coworking value is monetary.

Yes, revenue matters. Business growth matters. Local economic impact matters. But coworking spaces also create forms of value that are harder to measure and just as important.

They help people build confidence.
They help people find language for what they are creating.
They help people learn from peers.
They help people feel less alone.
They help people access networks they may not have found otherwise.

That kind of impact is especially important for entrepreneurs who do not feel represented in traditional business spaces.

Dr. Fai shares examples from her research, including spaces for women entrepreneurs, neurodiverse users, and founders from underrepresented backgrounds. Some coworking spaces are designing environments that support different sensory needs. Others are creating visibility for entrepreneurs who may not often see people who look like them in business leadership roles.

This is where coworking moves beyond real estate.

It becomes infrastructure for belonging, confidence, and opportunity.

Accessibility, Inclusivity, and the Future of Coworking

The conversation also connects directly to GCUC’s ongoing focus on inclusivity, accessibility, neurodiversity, and community building.

Liz notes that GCUC has been talking about neurodiversity in coworking for years because the industry has a responsibility to create spaces where more people can thrive. Coworking is not just about building more workspaces. It is about building better workspaces.

That means asking better questions:

Who feels welcome here?
Who feels seen here?
Who has access to support here?
Who is missing from the room?
What does this community need that traditional systems are not providing?

For regional coworking operators, those questions matter deeply. In many communities, the coworking space may be one of the few places where entrepreneurs, freelancers, remote workers, nonprofits, educators, creatives, and local leaders regularly come together.

That makes the space powerful.

It also makes the operator’s role more important than many policymakers realize.

What the Industry Needs Next

When Liz asks what excites Dr. Fai about the future of coworking, her answer is clear: the industry still has so much room to grow.

The shift toward flexible, hybrid, and adaptable work is not going away. That creates enormous opportunity for coworking spaces, especially outside major city centers. But growth also brings challenges.

Dr. Fai points out that the industry still needs more clarity. Researchers, policymakers, and even potential customers can struggle to find, define, and categorize coworking spaces. There is no single complete directory of coworking spaces in the UK. Industry classification codes do not always make sense. Some operators are categorized as office space. Others may see themselves as hospitality, business support, community infrastructure, or something else entirely.

That lack of shared language makes it harder to measure the industry’s true impact.

It also makes it harder to advocate for the support coworking deserves.

As Liz says, even the nomenclature matters. Coworking, no hyphen.

The Future of Regional Coworking Depends on Proof

The next chapter of regional coworking will require both heart and evidence.

The heart is already there. The industry is full of people who want to host, help, connect, and build community. That is why coworking continues to attract such passionate operators and members.

But the evidence needs to catch up.

If coworking wants to be recognized as a serious force in regional development, entrepreneurship, workforce transformation, and social connection, the industry needs to better document what it already knows to be true.

Coworking spaces are not just places to work.

They are places where people find confidence, build businesses, access community, learn informally, and contribute to the future of their local economies.

Listen to the Full Episode

Tune in to hear Dr. Felicia Fai and Liz Elam discuss regional coworking, research, policy, impact data, accessibility, inclusivity, and the future of the coworking industry.

Connect with Dr. Felicia Fai on LinkedIn to follow her research and work around innovation, regional resilience, and coworking impact.

Connect with Liz Elam on LinkedIn for more conversations on coworking, community, and the future of work.

Learn more about GCUC and get your tickets for GCUC UK in Manchester.

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