Should more universities embrace co-working spaces?

Co-working spaces: fine if they don’t replace academic offices – Universities like this model because battery hen cages, sorry, open plan offices, are cheaper to build and service. However, anywhere it’s been tried sees academics retreating to the library or home. Why? – consider the work academics do. Marking student work: requires concentration and no interruptions. Developing teaching resources, researching for same: requires concentration and no interruptions. Research and writing: even for joint publications, requires long periods of concentration and no interruptions. Housing resources like academic’s libraries: requires a lot more space than provided in the average open plan area. Student consultations: requires privacy. Phone calls: require privacy. Then there’s the security aspects – one lecturer in an open plan office said every time he needed to leave his desk while assessing student work, even for five minutes, he had to ensure that his computer was shut down and any student submissions put out of sight. Another university saw a major battle erupt between colleagues in an open plan office when one accused the others of stealing his work. Other battles have happened over loud phone calls. As University funding continues to decline and academic workloads soar, you really need to think twice about instituting something that will make academics’ lives even more difficult.