Vignettes of new work in rural settings: A narrative analysis of interviews with stakeholders and members of coworking spaces in a rural region of Sweden

In the present narrative analysis, we explore how coworking in a rural context is understood by stakeholders and members in relation to ideas on centre/periphery. Coworking, encompassing a variety of activities, is mostly understood as an urban phenomenon in practice and research. There is a gap in the literature when it comes to how coworking spaces in rural settings are made sense of by stakeholders and members. Here, these understandings specifically will be explored in relation to a theoretical framework on centre/periphery. That is, the dichotomisation of urban-rural is here understood as a social construct implying an urban norm where what is defined as the centre is made sense of as preferable in relation to what is defined as the periphery. Stories of coworking in rural settings are explored through narrative analysis. Based on interviews with 15 persons in northern Sweden, the analysis shows that coworking in rural settings was made sense of in relation to three different storylines, presented as vignettes. From the results of the narrative analysis, we discuss perspectives on centre/periphery and how these concepts can deepen and contribute with further nuances for the understanding of coworking in rural conditions.