Exploring Collaborative Design and Sustainable Living in British Cohousing Communities

Abstract

Cohousing is a new collaborative housing concept to foster closer social bonding and sustainable communities. This paper discusses the key principles, priorities, and challenges of Cohousing design through interviews with four architects and four Cohousing community residents. The interviews were carried out 1) to demonstrate the application of the design standards, 2) to understand residents’ thinking and behaviour change, and 3) to establish the environmental and social sustainability in a cohousing setting. The findings could lead to a toolkit and guide for Cohousing design process and to establish a better understanding of Cohousing design and development process in the UK.Keywords: Cohousing Community; Cohousing Design; Environmental Sustainability; Social Sustainability;eISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.