Space Share, Taipei

城市共享，反造城市系列講座之二 ：共同工作空間：屬於「革命者」的叢林

 

共同工作空間是一個能夠獨立工作又可以共享環境的地方。空間看似散落卻再現了破除標準化的趨勢，公共與私人之間的界線被模糊，從事不同行業的人得以齊聚。在這裡工作，既可擁有追求個人志業的空間，還能與不同行業的有志者一同激盪想法，解決社會問題。讓工作者保持著有機與彈性，不斷鍊節新議題，也不斷變化介入城市的方法，一直是處理「開放空間與私人空間的交界」。
講座的與談人莊熙平教授說，共同工作空間應該是讓革命者可以任意闖入的叢林，在那裡，每個人都要做好心理準備去遇見未知，也要同時去承擔每個人的責任，讓社群自然發生，讓文化得以生長。

photo_by_Chia-ying Yang                          

當下的城市空間已經被打上了太深的商業烙印，為了更加經濟高效地使用土地，空間變成一種消費品。有錢人進出高檔會所，邊緣群體露宿街頭，不同的社群在空間上被區隔開來，整個社會更因此加倍異化。

共同工作空間的存在，因其「共同」而不同，不管力量多麼微薄，也是透過行動推翻現有體制世界的一種可貴實踐。共同工作空間所引發的共享，共榮，共存等價值的探討，其對於工作中自我認同的關懷，對人的軟性情感需求之回應等，都是不可忽視的一股力量。

除卻空間的共享效用，共同工作空間的浮現提供反思另類工作型態中的機會。既是馬克斯所說的「工作的終極目的應該是自我實現。」也如漢娜厄倫在《人的條件》一書中對於人的活動分為勞動（labor），工作 (work)，行動 (action) 三種型態的詮釋。人的終極目標，便是在自主的行動中去創造價值，並因此發揮實質的社會影響。

時至今日，工作仍然佔據著大部分人最主要的時間，也是許多人一生中最重要的選擇之一。共同工作空間的產生為我們帶來了新的可能，但也提出了新的追問。

此次講座中，Impact Hub Taipei、小太陽共同工作空間、混空間的空間的創辦人們為我們講述了三個各具風味的故事。作為空間的靈魂人物，這幾位Host如何讓空間生根發芽，又催生了哪些社會影響？

 

一、Impact Hub Taipei： 做好事傳千里

photo_by_Chia-ying Yang                         

此次講座在隱身巷弄的Impact Hub Taipei 舉辦，透過圍牆，可以看見一棟隱沒在綠蔭當中的小白樓和一棵正燦爛開放的櫻花樹相映成趣。

進入門廊， 迎面遇到兩位身穿紅色衛衣牛仔褲，擁有著燦爛笑容的大男孩， 他們就是Impact Hub 的創辦人，張士庭與陳昱築。完成學業後，兩人認為應該以自己所學向社會回饋些什麼，便有了創辦一間共同工作空間的想法。

Impact Hub 最初創辦於英國，是一個國際共同工作者的串連網絡，現今已經在全球範圍有77間分部。兩位創辦人過五關斬六將，整整經過了十四個月才完成申請。

在繁忙準備各種英文資料的時候，兩個男生偶然騎車經過了和平東路二段的265巷，發現了這個林蔭籠罩，櫻花盛開的院落。經過幾番遊說，房東也被他們的夢想打動，在平價簽下五年合約的同時，更成為Impact Hub Taipei 的股東。他們連結全球化的網絡，希望提供一些創業資源、服務，讓一些對於永續發展、共享經濟、社會創新社群團體，有機會共同努力發展，一同合作，透過「打群架」展現更龐大的力量。

如今，Impact Hub Taipei已有五間公司入駐，關注的領域以聯合國2015年提出的十七項永續發展目標為標竿，內容涵蓋教育、環保等多項社會議題。專注東南亞議題的女生Sophia已經在Impact Hub 入駐一年。對她來說，清晨步入充滿自然氣息的林蔭小徑，或是有時走路去附近的巷弄買個鬆餅，就是在這裡工作的小幸福。Sophia大學畢業後曾在一間媒體公司工作，也曾對自己的人生迷茫過一陣子。接觸到東南亞族群後，被他們的堅強勇敢所打動，便與男友共同創辦了One-Forty， 期望讓更多的人聽見東南亞群體的聲音。

除了Sophia，還有好多創業者在Impact Hub Taipei 快樂地實現改變。正如創辦人昱築所說，做好事傳千里！「如果聯合國提出的永續發展目標各有一個人去做，我們能改變台灣，還能改變世界！」昱築這樣說道。

 

二. 小太陽共同工作空間：街巷中的社區客廳，讓交流與參與自然發生

小太陽共同工作空間非常具有居家與生活氣息，以至於路過的人都會先問一聲：「進來要換拖鞋嗎？」。位於中山區老舊社區的「小太陽」，週邊有許多商業大樓，許多房子都出租給年輕人，在地的人口20-40歲左右的人口很少，更像是一處尚未開發的地方，不同於熱鬧街區。因此團隊希望營造比較居家類型的共同工作空間，把它弄得像一個家一樣的氛圍。空間以藝文類的進駐者為主，並常常以展演等形式挖掘社區內的美好故事，更陸續推出社區探索書，幫助大家瞭解街坊鄰里對社區的貢獻。

活動策劃負責人李雨珊與工作夥伴自主發起製作社區探索書，想要以地圖的形式帶領大家深入認識社區，讓居民有意願步入社區中不同的店家，甚至是從未想過要進入的地方。曾舉辦過「新生活園遊會」活動，小太陽共同工作空間召集居民與店家齊聚一堂，讓居民有除了公園等傳統公共空間以外的地方與店家們認識，加深對於對方的了解。這也是對於共同工作空間功能拓展的一次嘗試。

photo_by_Chia-ying Yang                         

在整理社區探索書的過程中，小太陽的工作團隊發覺很多社區中的人其實都在默默地愛護這個地方，也正因為這些小事，一個社區的溫度才會產生。比如說，一位經營早餐店的阿嬤一直在餵養照顧社區中的流浪貓咪。這樣的小事對於生活在社區中的人來說可能是非常微小，不易發覺的。小太陽工作空間利用空間內的藝文資源，將這些美好的小小事繪製成清新的插畫，讓社區內的溫暖得以傳遞、沉澱。

 

三. 混空間：一個有關左派公社的實驗

photo_by_Chia-ying Yang                         

混空間出現的時間較早，可以說是台灣第一間具有共同工作性質的空間。空間創辦的開始有兩條簡明的宗旨——另一種身份 (another identity)，公社 （commune)。第一條聚焦於現代人對於多重身分的需求，第二條基於對社群共同生活與工作的左派公社夢想。

經營空間的過程並非一帆風順，許多一開始提出的創想都遭遇現實的挑戰。比如說空間內曾有定時響鈴，讓工作者們必須放下手中工作，去交流十五分鐘這樣的規定。也是在幾乎無人響應之後，創辦人游適任才反思到，這樣一種交往模式似乎不太適合需要「距離美」的台灣人。之後便換成在黑板上留字條的做法，讓入駐者簡單寫下我是誰，我在這裡做什麼，我需要什麼樣的人等信息，反而媒合成許多夥伴。也正是在現實的不斷挑戰中，空間的Host得以了解到進駐者的真正需求。例如說，將一樓改為咖啡廳也是因為女生比較喜歡去。對於多為IT業的男生入駐者來說，能每天看到不同的女生便是常去空間的動力。後來也嘗試將Co-Working Space拉到戶外，發展了台北好傘計劃，開啟與社區交流的機會。

在分享過無數次共同工作空間的經營後，創辦人游適任開始反思共同工作空間的實質。他不僅整理出詳實的共同工作空間操作手冊供新手借鑑， 也提出一系列新的問題。共同工作空間對社會真的有意義嗎？它是一個產業嗎？它對於「你」的價值又是什麼？游適任說，雖然這些問題沒有定論，但無論如何，空間對於他們的意義已經實現。

 

四. 座談分享的餘音：當共同工作空間遇上...?

聽完三個空間的故事，不禁感嘆這些空間哪裡是一個「共同工作空間」這樣的標籤就可以概述。共同工作空間因應社會與時代的需求產生，更與所在的具體社區形成一個密不可分的共生網絡。這些空間經營的經驗對其他關注社區營造，空間分享的聽眾來說，也有著非常重要的借鑑作用。

一位正在暨南大學人社中心做社區計畫的黃資媛非常受用於與談人莊熙平教授所強調的期待未知的重要性。她說，「平時做社區工作的時候我們常希望聽到不同的聲音，這種期待未知的態度對我很有啟發。」

photo_by_Chia-ying Yang                      

除了專注社區的群體外，到場的還有很多周邊的大學生。正在唸台大城鄉所碩士班的學生因為關注台南的老街改造議題，認為共同工作空間的模式可以借鑑。他認為「舊建築的面貌應該被保留，因為它承載的是一種生活方式和歷史記憶。很多街區的傳統產業都和老建築一起沒落了。如果有人能夠回到這些老建築裡，做回傳統職人，我覺得會是一種很棒的空間再生。」

正在積極參與蟾蜍山社區營造的台科大學生林逸晟，讓他更加關注的是如何讓有趣的空間遇到有趣的人。基於他在蟾蜍山的經驗，他認為混空間創辦人游適任所提到的有活力的廢墟讓他很感興趣。「在所謂的廢墟中讓社群聚集，散發活力，這是這場講座帶給我的思考。」男生這樣說道。

講座結束，參與者在微雨中陸續離開。但Impact Hub Taipei的二樓仍然亮著暖黃的燈光，可以看到幾位共同工作者在玻璃窗後的身影。

photo_by_Chia-ying Yang     

更多活動紀錄照片  ...              

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Space Share Series Lecture:Co-working Space: a jungle for the revolutionaries

Co-working Space is a space where you can work independently and share the working environment with independent workers from different industries.  Although the spaces seemed to be sparse, but they suggest a possibility of breaking the standards. It becomes possible for people in various fields to meet, share their thoughts, bring out innovative actions, and come out with solutions to social problems. The co-working spaces also blur the boundary between the public and the private. These spaces keep the working environment flexible, connect different social issues, and also change their way of intervening the city spaces continuously.

 

“A co-working space should be a jungle for the revolutionaries, ” said Professor Eric Chuang, “In the co-working space, everyone should expect for the unknown and take their responsibilities to cultivate their own cultures.”

 

Nowadays, the city space is gradually commercialized. To use the land more economically, people make city spaces to be commodities. The rich enter the private clubs, and the marginalized sleep on the streets. Different groups are segregated in the city, and consequently, our society becomes more alienated.

 

The existence of co-working space makes a difference with its emphasis on our coexistence. No matter how little the power is, the practices of co-working spaces lead us to reconsider the importance of sharing, self-realization, and emotional connections in the contemporary context.

 

In addition to promoting the sharing economy, the co-working space also stimulates our reflections on the alternative way of “working”. Marx said that when the economic development reaches its climax, working is a way for self-realization. In The Human Conditions, Hannah Adrent also categorized human activities into labor, work and action. She considers that the ultimate goal of life should be creating social values through actions.

 

Until now, work still occupies the major time of most people’s lives, and choosing a career is one of the biggest decisions to make. The existence of co-working spaces offers us an alternative comparing to the traditional way of working. However, it also brings out new questions.

 

In this public lecture, the space hosts from Impact Hub Taipei, LS co-working space, and Hun co-working space shared their stories with us. As the soul of the co-working spaces, how did the hosts start their practices and what social impacts have they realized ?

 

1. Impact Hub Taipei: doing good is contagious

 

The public lecture was held in Impact Hub Taipei, a white house accompanied by a blossoming pinky cherry tree in the front yard. In the corridor, two young men wearing jeans and red hoodies were greeting the visitors with big smiles. They are the founders of this co-working space, Oliver Chang and Rich Chen. After having graduated from the college, Oliver and Rich considered themselves to be public assets, and wanted to return what they learned to the society.

 

Impact Hub, firstly founded in the Britain, is an international network for the independent workers and now expands to 77 open impact hubs around the world. Oliver and Rich spent fourteen months to go through the application, and finally became members of the Impact Hub international community.

 

When busily preparing for the application documents, Oliver and Rich coincidentally passed by a beautiful white house, which was on rent. Attracted by the cherry tree in the courtyard, they decided to persuade the landlord to extend the contract with lower price. Finally, they succeeded in settling down the contract as they wished and their sense of social responsibility even moved the landlord, who later became their share holder. Oliver and Rich also connect the space to the international co-working community. They wish to provide resources and services to the creators, making it possible for various social groups to strength their power as a group with solidarity.

 

At present, there are five startups in Impact Hub Taipei, and their focuses covering environmental protection, eduction, immigrant groups and so on. Sophia, who works on the issue of Southeast Asia immigrant workers, has been worked at here for almost one year. For her, walking along the peaceful quiet lane every morning or buying a muffin in a nearby bakery are her little happiness for working at here. After her graduation from college, Sophia had been worked in a media company for two years, but was still confused about her future. Because of her boyfriend’s contact with the immigrant workers, she was impressed by the immigrant works’ persistence and positive attitude towards life. Consequently, she founded One-Forty together with her boyfriend to make the voice of the immigrant workers be heard in Taiwan.

 

Besides Sophia, many independent workers are also realizing their social impacts in Impact Hub Taipei. Just as what Rich said, doing good is contagious. “If the sustainable development goals promoted by the United Nations can be taken up by the co-workers here, we can change Taiwan and also the world”, said Rich.

 

2.  LS co-working space: a living room in the community

 

 LS co-working space is more like a home in terms of its interior design, which makes the passers-by always ask that “should we taken off our shoes before entering?” In a old town of Zhongshan district, LS co-working space is in a community with aging population. Because the neighborhood is less urbanized and differs from the commercial districts, LS co-working space aims to create a sense of home. The space targets on independent workers in the art and cultural realms. It holds various cultural activities such as exhibitions, concerts and performances to circulate the stories of the community. Now, the space hosts and co-workers also regularly publish community discovery guidebooks together to make better understanding of the community possible.

 

Lee Yu Shan, the project manager, told us that the aim of community discovery guidebooks is to catalyze more interactions in the community spaces, especially the local stores. Through the New Life Carnival,  LS co-working space invited the store owners and the neighbors to play together, knowing each other better through games. This was also a try for exploring the potential functions of the co-working space.

 

When collecting the community stories,  the team of LS co-working space found that many community members are actually making invisible contributions to the community. For example, a breakfast restaurant owner takes care of many homeless cats. This kind of things may be too tiny to be realized, but are essential for the accumulation of social capitals, such as trust and sense of belonging. To promote these stories, LS co-working space makes use of its human resources specialized in the art field, and transforms the stories into picture books.

 

3. Hun Co-working Space: a social experiment about commune

 

Hun Co-working Space can be considered as the first co-working space in Taiwan that “co-working” in nature. It has two missions at the very beginning: another identity, and commune. The fist one focuses on the contemporary people’s needs for multiple identities. The second one is based on the dream for creating an autonomous commune.

 

Creating a co-working space is not an easy thing to do, and many ideas were challenged by the reality. For example, there has been a rule that when the bell rings, the co-workers have to stop working and have a 15-minute conversation regularly. However, nobody actually responded to this rule. It was until then did the space founder Justin Yu realize that Taiwanese need distance in building interpersonal relations. Consequently, the space host changed the rule that everyone can post a note on a board, leaving information about who they are, what are they doing in the space, and what do they want. This new rule was widely accepted and led to numerous collaborations among co-workers. Now, the first floor is changed to a cafe shop, because the co-workers are mostly males working in the IT industry, and they will be more willing to come if they can see different girls everyday. The space hosts also tried to extend the co-working space to the outdoor, developing the Taipei Good Umbrella Project to create opportunities for more communications inside the community.

 

After sharing the experiences of managing a co-working space for many times, the space founder Justin Yu began to reflect on the nature of co-working space. He not only made a guidebook on co-working space making and management, but also brings out new questions. Does the co-working space have social impacts? Is it an industry? What is its values? Justin Yu said that, although there is no correct answer to these questions, he has already found the meaning of co-working space for him.

 

4. Sharing session after the talk: when co-working space meets…?

 

After listening to three stories, it can be say that these spaces should not be simply labeled as Co-working Space. They were created in response to the concrete social and historical conditions, and have already been integrated into broaden social networks. These practices offer precious lessons to the audience from diverse fields.

 

A female project manager in Shui Sha Lian Research Center for Human Innovation and Social Practice said that Professor Eric Chuang inspired her most. “I like the concept of expecting for the unknown. ” she said, “working in the community, it is always important to have different voices, and the expectation for the unknown is really significant.”

 

A graduate student in National Taiwan University also shared his thoughts with us. He is working on the renovation of the old houses in Tainan, and he considers that the mode of co-working spaces can also be applied. “The old houses should be preserved because they are essential parts of the local lifestyles. Many traditional craftsmanship is fading out together with the old houses. If somebody are willing to pick up the traditional craftsmanship in these houses, it will be wonderful for continuing the local culture.” he said.

 

Another college student in National Taiwan University of Science and Technology was an active participant in the renovation of the Toad Mountain. He was more interested in creating interesting spaces to attract interesting people, and Justin Yu’s sharing on making  energetic ruins attracted his attention. He said that “I am thinking about how to rejuvenate the so-called ruins through building communities.”

 

The lecture is finished, but something else is everlasting. When leaving the Impact Hub Taipei, we can still see several co-workers are working under the warm yellow lights on the second floor. 

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