Creative hubs as governance infrastructure for remote work
Remote and hybrid work have become a structural feature of European labour markets, accompanied by rapid growth in coworking and shared workspaces. By the end of 2024, nearly 42,000 coworking spaces were projected worldwide, with around 6,800 located in Europe. Beyond desk-based coworking, creative hubs increasingly function as anchor points for local innovation, cultural production and community building.
For cities, creative hubs are governance instruments: spaces where public administrations, civil society, creatives, entrepreneurs and increasingly remote workers interact. European research consistently shows that long-term impact depends less on architecture and more on how hubs are managed, governed and embedded in local policy frameworks.
This governance perspective was the explicit focus of the 6th URBACT Remote-IT Transnational Meeting, held in Brindisi in January 2025, which brought together partner cities to examine management of creative hubs and innovative governance models through policy dialogue, external expert input and site visits
Site visit within Coworking Molo12 in Palazzo Guerrieri, during the transnational meeting in Brindisi.
What cities mean by “creative hubs”
Creative hubs are commonly defined as spaces that support creative and cultural communities by combining workspace, networking, skills development and cultural programming. In a municipal and Remote-IT context, they can be understood as:
Multi-tenant spaces hosting creative, cultural and knowledge-intensive activities, acting as community anchors for local and mobile workers, including remote employees, freelancers and digital nomads.
They may take different forms, including coworking spaces, fab labs, cultural centres, libraries-as-hubs or networks of neighbourhood spaces. What they share is a need for intentional governance to remain accessible, inclusive and aligned with public objectives.
Why governance is decisive - lessons from Brindisi
The Brindisi transnational meeting provided specific evidence of why governance matters. Discussions, site visits and external presentations focused not on “what a hub is”, but on how relationships between municipalities and hub operators are structured in practice.
A central reference point was the Case di Quartiere model of the Municipality of Brindisi, awarded an URBACT Good Practice label[1]. The model consists of a network of approximately ten regenerated public spaces, distributed across the city, each managed by different civic or social-economy organisations but coordinated under a shared municipal framework
Key governance features highlighted during the meeting included:
- public ownership of assets combined with delegated, community-based management;
- clear agreements defining roles, responsibilities and public-interest objectives;
- municipal support structures for capacity building, mentoring and coordination;
- an explicit shift from seeing operators as “service providers” to partners in local development.
As presented by municipal representatives and local operators during the Living Library sessions, the city’s role is not to micro-manage spaces, but to enable social, cultural and economic resources through supportive governance arrangements.
Workshop on managing creative hubs during the transnational meeting in Brindisi
Governance models cities can work with
European experience and Remote-IT discussions confirm that there is no single optimal governance model. Instead, cities combine models depending on objectives and context.
- Municipality-led hubs allow strong policy alignment and legitimacy but may lack agility.
- Delegated or public–civil partnerships, such as in Brindisi, combine public ownership with operational flexibility and community ownership, but require careful contract design and trust-based relationships.
- Independent hubs, often run by NGOs or cooperatives, offer innovation and experimentation but may need public support to ensure accessibility and long-term stability.
- Networked hub systems, rather than single flagship spaces, are increasingly used to reach neighbourhoods and avoid centralisation.
The Case di Quartiere experience illustrates the advantages of networked, multi-space governance, where coordination and shared principles matter more than uniform management models
Core governance functions - what cities need to ensure
Across models, the Brindisi discussions reinforced a set of governance functions that cities cannot delegate away:
Strategic direction
Hubs need a clear mission linked to city strategies such as urban regeneration, youth employment, cultural development or remote-work attraction.
Community participation
Governance structures should involve users and local communities in decision-making. Examples from Brindisi showed how associations and community groups can play a leading role when properly supported.
Financial sustainability
Cities must support diversified revenue models while avoiding over-commercialisation that excludes local users. Brindisi combines regional funding, municipal support and locally generated income streams.
Programming and ecosystem roles
Hubs act as connectors between remote workers, local creatives, SMEs and public services. During the meeting, partners discussed hubs as places for meetups, pilot actions and experimentation within the Remote-IT framework.
Monitoring and learning
Rather than focusing solely on occupancy, governance systems should track social value, collaboration, skills development and community impact, as illustrated by the social balance-sheet approach used in the Case di Quartiere network.
Creative hubs and remote work
The Brindisi exchanges highlighted that hubs supporting remote workers must carefully balance local inclusion and international openness. Informal initiatives such as the Crossing Brindisi International Community emerged organically to address post-pandemic social needs, demonstrating that physical spaces still matter deeply for remote workers’ integration
Governance questions raised included:
- how to prevent hubs from becoming exclusive spaces for mobile professionals?
- how to keep pricing and culture accessible to local creatives and youth?
- how municipalities can use hubs to pilot hybrid public services and decentralised work without compromising data protection or public accountability?
Practical guidance for Remote-IT and other cities
Based on European frameworks and Brindisi practice, cities designing or revising creative-hub governance should explicitly address:
- Ownership and delegation - who owns assets, who manages them, and under what conditions?
- Partnership logic - are operators treated as suppliers or as co-producers of public value?
- Coordination mechanisms - how are multiple hubs connected into a coherent ecosystem?
- Inclusion safeguards - how are underrepresented groups guaranteed access and voice?
- Learning loops - how are experiences reviewed and adapted over time?
