ABSTRACT Building on scholarly explorations of the nuances of labor conditions in emerging knowledge economies in the Global South and the glocalization of the digital labor market, this paper examines how coworking spaces in the Philippines are designed and organized. In particular, we explore the role that these alternative workspaces take in addressing the unique needs of local digital platform workers or online freelancers. The Philippines ranks third, after the United States and India, among the countries with the greatest number of online freelancers. Drawing from a multi-sited ethnography of coworking spaces in Metro Manila, including interviews with coworking space managers as well as Filipino online freelancers, the paper explores how the latter perceive the role and experience the value of coworking spaces. Echoing Oreglia and Ling’s notion of “digital imagination,” we find that digital workers sustain a unique sense of “aspirational belonging” to coworking spaces which we describe as a state of willingness to maintain a positive perception of these spaces without any certainty of realizing their promised benefits. We also argue that the very same qualities that render coworking spaces aspirational for online Filipino freelancers function to regulate a degree of in/exclusivity of urban spaces.

中文翻译：

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全球南方的联合办公空间：本地表达和想象

摘要 基于对全球南方新兴知识经济体劳动条件细微差别和数字劳动力市场全球本地化的学术探索，本文研究了菲律宾的联合办公空间是如何设计和组织的。我们特别探讨了这些替代工作空间在满足本地数字平台工作者或在线自由职业者的独特需求方面所发挥的作用。在在线自由职业者人数最多的国家中，菲律宾排名第三，仅次于美国和印度。该论文借鉴了马尼拉大都会联合办公空间的多地点民族志，包括对联合办公空间经理和菲律宾在线自由职业者的采访，探讨了后者如何看待联合办公空间的作用和体验价值。与 Oreglia 和 Ling 的“数字想象”概念相呼应，我们发现数字工作者对联合办公空间保持着一种独特的“渴望归属感”，我们将其描述为一种愿意保持对这些空间的积极看法的状态，而没有任何确定性承诺的好处。我们还认为，使菲律宾在线自由职业者向往的共同工作空间具有相同的品质，可以调节城市空间的一定程度的内部/排他性。