ProspeKtive

Over the last few decades, new issues have come to define contemporary territories. Among these issues, environmental concerns occupy a prominent place, largely legitimized by scientific research. However, territorial sustainability is not limited to ecological issues alone, but also (and concomitantly) integrates profound social concerns. It is in this context that the notions of spatial justice and the just city must be understood.

We propose here to mobilize the notion of "performative well-being" with regard to open spaces. In order to fully grasp this legitimate but, in some respects, paradoxical temptation, we first need to succinctly define these two protean terms, well-being and performance, in order to highlight their compatibility and dependence in terms of academic work. But in our view, it is important to go further, by highlighting two complementary conditions: organizational maturity and spatial attractiveness.

Thinking of the working environment in terms of user experience (UX) can lead to certain excesses. This approach tends to individualize the measurement of workplace use. What's more, it transforms the assessment of their performance by focusing on flow. Finally, making individual experience more fluid carries the risk of financializing it, particularly in the case of "global cost" management strategies. Taken to extremes, these strategies enable real estate to evolve from a cost center to a profit center, by inviting employees to pay for the use of the workplace through their experience.

With the rapid and significant evolution of our workspaces, particularly in terms of confinement, we can observe a growing range of tools and technical solutions to facilitate workspace management (presence sensors, reservation applications, etc.).

The question of introducing the flex office in companies (the absence of an assigned office for each individual) has come to the fore again due to the increase in the number of teleworkers, following the coronavirus health crisis, and the resulting drop in the frequency of presence in the workplace.