Mapping NYC's Startups and WeWork Spaces
New York, NY, USA
By Maria Chung
startups, wework, zoning, historical districts, landmarks, density
NYC has become home to thousands of startups impacting work culture and environments. Home to many of these startups is WeWorks.
NYC has become home to a burgeoning population of startups and many of these companies are situated within WeWork spaces. This map aims to show the density of these companies (most notably) in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and some in Queens. While WeWork spaces are visible on maps, many of the startups are not. Strangely, of the 6000+ [registered] startups according to the NYC’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) close to 5000 of these companies in relation to mapping are ‘unmappable’.
At present, the sharing economy is an umbrella term with a myriad of meanings. Other terms and forms synonymous with the sharing economy are: peer-to-peer economy, gig economy, information technology, and collaborative economy. And branching from this are startups, which are vaguely entrepreneurial ventures that aim to meet a marketplace “need” through the development of a viable business model centered around an innovative product or service, process or a platform. In NYC, there are notable ‘campuses’ for many [startup] companies or pioneers rather, that are now household names like Uber, Etsy, Google, and Facebook. Needless to say, this field is vast and complex.
To expand on this, many of these companies do not have a recognized address that can be turned into a data point when mapping. This illuminates on the fact that the process of registering as a startup is quite simple and unorganized. This physically and in theory is to argue that there the city advertises a boasting economy centered around these spaces, however, without data it is unclear how to make sense of the vitality of these several thousands of companies that are out of sight. What are these companies? Who works there? What service do they provide? These are among the many questionable features of the lack of information.
In an attempt to make sense of the data that does exist, this project then shows the density of the locations that are mappable (with an address) that can be plotted on a map. An overarching theme evident in the map is the level of ambiguity in zoning and land use in addition to the density of many of these companies that operate within WeWork’s, but also how these spaces are most often situated within historical and landmarked districts and locales.
Lastly to reiterate is, again, the ambiguity of this vast phenomenon we perceive as ‘startup’ and collaborative spaces in juxtaposition to the greater issue of social “good” and what it provides or alternatively, takes away from the areas where they are most dense. The goal in creating this map albeit a work in progress is to begin the lengthy process of being able to supply something visual and traceable to then apply it to real places and spaces for accuracy in determining what constitutes as a startup and who are these entrepreneurs, what is their platform and what are they in the business of, and where are these places of innovation located. In doing so, NYC could potentially grow in districts (alongside local residents) and parts of the city that otherwise are overlooked as unprofitable.
