Reconfiguring the CBD: Work and Discourses of Design in Sydney's Office Space

This paper address the limitations in dominant interpretations of CBD work and workspaces to account for complex processes of reconfiguration currently being experienced in the form of office work, the positioning of office workers and the material and discursive processes shaping CBD workspaces. Drawing on a case study of Sydney, Australia, it examines the impact of economic financialisation on the constitution of office work, highlighting a movement towards practices of association, interaction and shared work space. Then, through an exploration of the design discourses driving the creation of new configurations of office space, an investigation is presented of the connections between new forms of office work and new subjectivities of office workers. Finally, it is argued that interconnections between new forms of work, workspaces and workplace subjectivities are transforming the process of producing CBD office spaces in complex ways that blur the boundaries between so-called public and private realms in a process termed communalisation.