Poelsema, Kim (2020) What is the role of the third place in the organization of work of its users? Master thesis.
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Abstract
In addition to the traditional dichotomy of the office and the home as working locations, a third way of working is emerging. Traditionally, the third place is the place where people spend time besides their work and their home. These places are often places where people have a good time, ideas are exchanged, and relationships are built (Oldenburg, 1989). The third place is nowadays becoming increasingly popular as a working location amongst creative young people, starters, and mostly self-‐employed workers in the services sector. The freedom of choice to work from possible locations to perform work is increasing and people are using this increased freedom. Furthermore, it has become possible to work in places that have not been intentionally designed for working purposes. The third place is jumping into this development (Kojo and Nenonen, 2017). This research explored the type of workers in these places, why these workers are working there, which work-‐related task they perform in these places, and how this structures their workweek and space-‐time geography. The type of job is strongly related with the potential use of third places as a working location. Most workers have some flexibility and/or control over their working hours and the place where the work, this is reflected in the labour sectors of the users, and the share of self-employed workers. Furthermore, the users of third places are mostly young, highly educated people, who are often starters-‐ or medium experienced workers. This study showed that for most users the third place is not a substitution of the traditional office or working from home, rather it is an additional working place to the on growing potential working places of workers. However, this research ashowed that there is a difference in the use of third places between non-‐profit based third places (Coffeeshops and libraries) and profit-‐based places (Co-‐working spaces). The non-‐profit based places are mostly used for a few hours a day, and they are also used occasionally or accidentally. The profit-‐based places are used for more hours a day and the users are there on a more regular basis or even at fixed times, the place is not used for accidental or occasional visits. Thus, the profit-‐based place shows similarities with the usage of the traditional office as a working location. Workers in third place live relatively close to their working location, which makes it possible for them to have short travel time and to go to their working location by bicycle or foot. This leads to more blurring boundaries between places for private life, work, and leisure (Koroma et al., 2014). The third place is not solely a working location, it is also a place for meetings with friends or private activities. In line with this observation, is the development that cities are transforming from functionalistic cities to post-‐functional cities. Furthermore, this research gained insight into the type of work-‐related tasks performed in third places. Most of the workers in non-‐profit places use the third place for specific administrative tasks or meetings. This is also done with the purpose to structure their workweek. For the profit place, the tasks between the working places are less differing as the place is also mostly seen as their main working place. Four types of motivations have been found: Ambiance, facilities, location and avoiding the home/or office. For the non-‐profit places the ambiance and location are the most important factors to choose for a certain third place as a working location. Whereas the ambiance and avoiding home are the most important motivations for workers in profit-‐based places. However, it is mostly a combination of motivations that lead to the decision to work in a third place.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Degree programme: | Economic Geography |
| Supervisor: | Koster, S. |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Jun 2020 14:55 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Jun 2020 14:55 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3194 |
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