What Is Coliving?
Sharvani Chandvale
Humans have always been social animals – living, travelling, and hunting together in groups to ensure a sense of security. It is no rocket science that the best social group would be the one that shares the same goals and values as you. This is supported by a study by the University of Kansas that showed how humans are hard-wired to interact with like-minded people. The stronger the connection, the more robust your community will be. This is the very mantra that has become the very basis of creating coliving spaces.
Now, more than ever, people are seeking out like-minded communities to foster a nurturing social circle. Added to this, the pandemic played its part in showing us why it matters so much. Surrounding yourself with the right kind of people is an elixir to encourage growth and collaboration. If you are someone who’s always on the move and looking for opportunities to connect, there is nothing better than coliving spaces.
So again, what are coliving spaces?
NomadGao VilaNova, Anjuna
Coliving spaces are shared living spaces. It can be a house with multiple rooms rented to different individuals, an entire building with multiple apartments or homes within a common gated complex. They often have separate rooms but a shared kitchen and a common space where members can interact and engage. This modern form of shared living can also come with additional workspaces to cater to remote workers.
Coliving spaces are best suited for remote working professionals such as freelancers, entrepreneurs, and remote employees who are always on the lookout for collaboration opportunities. Moreover, startups and teams can also utilise this space for team workations or team retreats.
What are the benefits of coliving?
Coliving can be really beneficial to individuals looking to connect, network, and collaborate with others. They have been around for a long time, especially in the more popular south Asian digital nomad destinations. They offer digital nomads the right kind of professional environment, dedicated peaceful workspaces and affordable living spaces while always being on the move. Here are some ways you can expect to benefit from a coliving space:
Lease-free accommodation
A large number of post-pandemic employees and remote workers are looking to indulge in workations. While renting a hotel can be too expensive for a non-vacation outing, renting an apartment for the short term comes with its own hassles. Coliving spaces free you of the hassle of having to rent an apartment and get tangled in the mess of a lease. Moreover, they come equipped with all the necessary amenities to make your workation easier for you; some amenities offered are wifi, kitchen appliances, a fridge, ergonomic workspaces and so on.
A tailored community
While hostels do offer the crowd and are even affordable, they may not always offer the best opportunities for collaboration and quiet workspaces. Remote workers such as freelancers and entrepreneurs always tend to seek out like-minded professional communities. The best opportunity to do so rests in the hands of spaces that have been designed to facilitate remote workers. Moreover, for someone who is always on the move, coliving spaces offer a sanctuary that can mar feelings of loneliness.
Contradictory to plain solo travelling, digital nomadism demands you to find a new community and adapt to new people every time. While this can be exciting, it usually accompanies a feeling of isolation, especially in the first few days of landing in a new destination. Coliving spaces often host digital nomads and can help you adapt to the new place better without must mental stress.
Offering more in less
Coliving spaces are designed to cater to the needs of people looking to travel and work. Hence, most of them come equipped with all essential facilities such as coworking spaces, good internet, a shared kitchen, a cafe, and good, comfortable seating. This way, they help cut down on the additional cost of having to book a coworking space separately since it’s already included in your coliving rent. In comparison to Airbnb apartments or hotel rooms, coliving spaces can foster much more productivity since they have separate spaces for different kinds of tasks, along with all essential amenities. This helps you avoid the trouble of fixing up wifi or purchasing utensils for a long term workation.
Collaboration
Since coliving spaces tend to specifically attract remote workers, they help nurture a collaborative community. At NomadGao, we like to see it as an offline LinkedIn for professionals who are always on the move. To ensure the remote community has enough opportunities to connect and interact, coliving spaces also arrange plenty of events. At NomadGao, coconuts (our members) can opt to participate in community karaoke, BBQ dinners, beach volleyball, community surfing and so on.
Work-oriented amenities
Just because you are no longer working from the office, doesn’t mean you have to forego its professional amenities. While other accommodation services do offer wifi and power backup, they might not meet your work requirements. Coliving spaces ensure that you have an uninterrupted work experience by offering the best bandwidth, long term power backup. At NomadGao, we have gone a step further by offering ergonomic seating, meeting rooms, and call rooms.
The concept of coliving is still relatively unknown in India and that pitched a large number of post-pandemic Indian remote workers against the idea of workation. Hotel rooms and hostels are not designed to cater to the requirements of working remotely and can come across as expensive, unreliable and unsupportive to your work need. However, workations are no vacations. Coliving spaces can help you manage your finances better by offering you discounted long stay accommodation, quiet, productive workspaces and a community that will make you never want to go back to the office.
