How Childcare Plus Coworking Becomes Social Infrastructure with Georgia Norton скачать в хорошем качестве

How Childcare Plus Coworking Becomes Social Infrastructure with Georgia Norton

“What concerns me most is this idea that we’re returning to the norms from before... when we tore down the walls between home and work and childcare.” Georgia Norton Tired of running yourself into the ground? Then stop running alone. On February 24th, the London Coworking Assembly presents Unreasonable Connection Goes Live!—a one-day working session for the people running London’s most vital neighbourhood spaces and the public sector allies working to help them thrive. It’s a day to share the load, find real solutions, and build a new playbook, together. Georgia Norton spent spring 2024 interviewing founders, childcare workers, and parents across co-located childcare and coworking spaces. What she documented wasn’t a pandemic oddity for affluent families. It was a structural shift in how people want to arrange work and care. The report, “The Case for Childcare plus coworking,” argues that these spaces should be treated as essential social infrastructure, not premium amenities. Georgia calls it social infrastructure because that’s what it functions as: Places where work happens alongside childcare Where childcare workers gain professional development opportunities shoulder to shoulder with laptop workers Where bridges get built between people who’d never otherwise meet But Georgia’s facing pushback from two contradictory directions. Front one: This is elitist. How could this ever be universal childcare? The spaces look too nice, too intentional about natural light and materials. Front two: Not everyone wants work and care integrated. Some people prefer separation, long commutes, and wrap-around daycare. Both critiques miss what Georgia is actually arguing. She’s not trying to universalise a single model. She’s pointing out that thousands of families restructured their lives during the pandemic and don’t want to return to the way things were. They’ve tasted something different—messy, overlapping, human—and the old binary (office or home, parent or professional, boss or employee) feels like a lie. The teens who kept wearing sliders and pyjama pants to school after lockdown? That’s the same cultural shift. We loosened our grip on “how things are supposed to be” and got more realistic about what actually matters. Georgia names fixable barriers: Licensing rules that block grant access Outdated funding structures The assumption that childcare innovation requires private equity backing She’s taking these findings to the House of Lords in June. She’s exploring intergenerational models that integrate eldercare alongside childcare. Her next horizon isn’t scaling Playhood into a chain—it’s asking smarter policy questions about how to fund site-specific, adaptive models that serve neighbourhoods. This episode is for: Space operators are wondering if childcare integration makes sense. Parents who’ve felt the guilt of separation and want to explore alternatives. Anyone asking whether coworking can do more than rent desks—whether it can actually function as civic infrastructure that builds bridges across differences. ⏱ Timeline Highlights [02:07] What Georgia wants to be known for: “Making an impact... putting that report to work to help inspire entrepreneurs, to defend the childcare workforce.” [03:34] The provocative question that drove the report: “So many people wanted this... Why aren’t we funding models to pilot this?” [04:56] Why the report’s lens was American: “I’m sitting on more of a global picture.” [05:53] The tension Georgia feels most: “What concerns me most is this idea that we’re returning to the norms from before.” [09:10] On loosening standards: “We all loosened our standards... But I think we just got more realistic about, let’s not waste any time on that separation.” [10:20] The power of bridges: “We need bridges to other people... not binary employee versus boss, teacher versus parent.” [11:11] What the pandemic revealed: “The pandemic let us see childcare workers as key workers... We should hold on to models that integrate with families.” [14:03] The contradictory feedback: “Two key pieces of feedback contradict one another—how is this equitable? And also, this isn’t for everyone.” [15:21] On not dismissing the model: “If there’s a model here that could work in other neighbourhoods, we’ve got to look at smarter ways of funding.” [16:48] Georgia on fixable problems: “The barriers to making this more accessible—things like you can’t get grants without the licensing. Really old-fashioned things that get in the way. Fixable problems. I like those.” [17:42] Why childcare changes everything: “When you add or integrate with a childcare offering... there’s something next level going on.” [19:11] The workforce development story: “One of the strongest stories... is the workforce development that occurs here.” [24:09] On species needs: “Openness, open-heartedness and open-mindedness to being around ot...