Collaborative Housing Research Articles

Do sustainability motivations drive satisfaction and engagement in the sharing economy, or is it just price and convenience? Some answers in a collaborative housing context

PurposeThis study aims to understand the motivations behind using Airbnb as a collaborative housing platform brand, their impact on satisfaction and engagement, and how the latter affects brand electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) and brand loyalty. It also analyzes the potential moderating effect of the use intensity of collaborative housing platforms for the proposed causal relationships.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was addressed to active users of Airbnb with a final sample of 405 users. Data were analyzed using a covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the causal model and a multigroup SEM to test the moderator effect of the intensity of use.FindingsThe results show that convenience affects brand satisfaction and hedonic motivation influences brand engagement, and both affect return intention and eWOM. In contrast, sustainability motivations seem unrelated both with satisfaction and engagement. Furthermore, the mechanism by which people reach loyalty in terms of return intention varies according to their usage intensity. Thus, the engagement–intention way is stronger for more intensive brand users. In contrast, the satisfaction–intention mechanism is significantly stronger for those with more sporadic use.Practical implicationsThe management of collaborative housing platforms should promote tools and actions that favor enjoyment and fun since they increase engagement. On the other hand, it should be interesting to communicate the idea of the convenience of the applications, such as availability for a great offer, ease of contracting, or saving time, since this type of motivation directly correlates with customer satisfaction.Originality/valueThe motivational and behavioral heterogeneity demonstrated in this research can make it easier for people to be reached through different communication strategies and arguments both by the collaborative housing platforms and by public agencies with interests in city tourism management.

Community response to COVID-19: The case of rental housing cooperatives in Melbourne, Australia and Choluteca, Honduras

COVID-19 and its restrictions have had widely documented negative impacts for private and social rental sectors, internationally. Limited evidence exists about how the pandemic effects were experienced in alternative forms of renting such as housing cooperatives. Rental cooperatives, recognised for their principles of democratic control, education and training and concern for community, may offer different outcomes for members than more individually-oriented rental forms. This paper seeks to explore whether and how COVID-19 was responded to within cooperative rental housing models, and if the pandemic posed a challenge to cooperative principles. Using a social practices approach, the analysis first identifies cooperative members' formal and informal responses to COVID-19, and second explores the meaning of such activities in the pandemic context in Australia and Honduras cooperatives. The continuity of usual housing cooperative practices and pandemic measures were analysed via in-depth interviews with 15 residents. Findings indicate that cooperative responses acted to reduce negative impacts of the pandemic or to find effective solutions. Rental housing cooperative residents’ lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, invite us to reflect on the role of housing cooperatives in the housing sector, the importance of collaborative housing models and the relevance of housing-based community resilience.

Community-Led housing in the UK: Learning from Black British and migrant histories

How might Collaborative Housing be a space that creates support and opportunities for precarious migrants, or refugees? Where examples or initiatives do exist, what kinds of challenges, barriers and- indeed- opportunities may there be for developing stronger links? This conversation is an edited summary of a video interview between Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia and Claude Hendrickson, as part of the Migration and Collaborative Housing (MICOLL) project. Speaking about his life’s work in the community-led sector in Leeds in particular, Claude shows us how there are cycles to the migrant story that are repeating themselves today in the UK, but also opening towards more hopeful spaces of opportunity. Tracing the movement from the riots of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the first Black Housing Associations to the Community Self Build Agency and, more recently, Community Housing hubs, his experience shows how community housing work across the UK is slowly moving towards more intersectional approaches that can, in many cases, challenge mainstream views towards migrants.

CO-HOUSING: A SOLUTION TOWARD SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENT IN BATAM CITY

The increasing population urges the need for space as a place to live in urban areas with limited land. In addition, the population of Batam City are dominated by millennials with low financial ability but high social capital. That can trigger the construction of illegal houses, which sometimes do not meet the criteria for settlements that are slums, reaching fifteen hectares in the Belian Village of Batam City Sub-District. It is necessary to adapt collaborative housing (co-housing) with minimal land use. However, it can provide space as a place to live and socialize as much as possible, including residents in building management. The methodology of this research is a qualitative method with a descriptive approach to the condition of the city of Batam, which is observed directly by paying attention to the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as co-housing design considerations. Thus, this study resulted in recommendations for the design of co-housing buildings with facilities and features close to the site, spatial layout and planning that are to the needs of the target user, a property model that is by the user's abilities, and screening and curation process that the user can accept. The sustainability of settlements can also be the result of adapting the co-housing concept in Batam.

A socio-spatial approach to the first legal hall dwelling setting in Switzerland: the case study of Hallenwohnen in Zurich.

The study explores the collective settings of Hallenwohnen (hall dwelling) as a section of the Zollhaus settlement, which is the follow-up project by the Kalkbreite housing cooperative, functioning since January 2021 in Zurich, Switzerland. Hallenwohnen is the first legal hall cohousing arrangement in Switzerland. The private and semiprivate spaces of Hallenwohnen consist of a large open hall with collective basic structures and mobile residential towers (rollable spaces) as the core concept, which offer an affordable, self-managed/self-build, collaborative living and coworking arrangement in the center of Zurich. The qualitative case study method has been applied through the face-to-face semistructured interviews mainly with three occupants of Hallenwohnen as representatives of this residential community, in-situ observations, spatial investigations and document analyses. The theoretical framework of the study is grounded in the concept of collaborative housing. The results reveal that the innovative socio-spatial potentials of the collective spaces have been activated through the participatory intentions of the microcommunity and intended functional mix of the setting. Living as one collective household , multiplicity usage of hybrid spaces and the spatial activation of intermediate spaces have enabled participation-capable residential spaces and have resulted in optimal usage of housing spaces. Nonetheless, constraints and points of conflicts, which trigger the (re)negotiations and reinterpretations of the usage of collective housing spaces facilitate collective solutions of the residential community. A bottom-up initiative such as Hallenwohnen is helped along, through the long-term planning and top-down support of the cooperative housing model of Zurich.

Beyond collective property: a typology of collaborative housing in Europe

Collaborative housing is generally defined by what it is not: it is neither solely private tenure nor fully state-run public housing. As a result, housing studies have not fully captured the great diversity of collaborative housing forms. This article develops a complex typology of collaborative housing based on an analysis of 100 cases from Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, and Germany. We identify differentiating features across three key dimensions: the architecture of the estate, the institutional set-up of its property rights, and the values motivating the collective inhabiting and managing of the estate. We then apply our typology using the case of the 4Stelle Hotel, a collaborative housing estate in Rome. This study lays the foundations for future international comparative research that moves beyond the reductive understanding of collaborative housing as property sharing.

My home is no longer my castle. Collaborative housing as an element of sharing economy

Collaborative housing is considered a long-term housing option based on the idea of sharing space in a community-boosting manner. Residents share areas like laundry, utility or leisure rooms. On this basis the authors argue that housing may be treated as a commodity that could be shared just like sharing economy goods are. Thus the aim of this study is to evaluate the potential of collaborative housing from the sharing economy perspective. To achieve the aim, concepts of Curtis and Lehner (2019) and Curtis (2021) were applied to check what collaborative housing lacks to become a fully-fledged sharing economy entity. Apart from the nature of housing, which is by no means a fast moving consumer good, the lack of a digital platform that is the basis of most sharing economy entities, is the most visible difference between collaborative housing and sharing economy entities. Moreover, a questionnaire survey was conducted among prospective housing market users in Poland to check their awareness and readiness for this housing option. The research findings confirmed that they are still very low among housing market participants and private property is still considered considerably better than shared property. However, a tighter connection between collaborative housing and the sharing economy may provide the impetus for the young generation to enter this form of housing. The study is a contribution to the debate on collective housing options in Europe and may be considered novel as it attempts to conceptualize and position collaborative housing within the sharing economy context.

Collaborative housing communities through the COVID-19 pandemic: rethinking governance and mutuality

The national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the prevalence and importance of informal mutual support in neighbourhoods and social networks. Mutual support structures and functions are strong in collaborative housing, in which people often intentionally form resident communities to enhance support practices. Using qualitative methods, this article examines how lockdown restrictions have impacted on practices of mutual support in collaborative housing, when the infrastructures of shared facilities and proximate neighbourliness were challenged. There were ambiguous definitions of ‘households’ associated with collaborative housing communities when interpreting the lockdown rules to provide mutual aid and support. Shared values, commitments and length of time of establishment mattered when operationalising such support. Moreover, the lockdown helped some communities re-evaluate their governance structures, decision-making and the limits of mutual support as they experienced what changing care needs of individual members meant to their communities. It resulted in a more realistic appraisal of their local social capital.

Will We Realize the Decentralization of Affordable Housing Provision? Critical Reflections on English and Chinese Land Governance for Housing Contexts

ABSTRACT This cross-cultural study provides important insight into the decentralization of affordable housing in the community/family sector in England and China regardless of the different land ownership. It particularly highlights the land element in housing and welfare systems across the Global North and South that are ignored in the literature. Although England and China have different land and housing contexts (such as ownership), the existing literature highlights how they have been undermined by the Right to Buy policy and processes of financialization and argues that new forms of social organizations are needed to resist these pressures. One of the crucial findings was the similar pathway of land governance for housing in England and China since the 1970s. Meanwhile, decentralization of power for housing development was sufficient for stakeholders (from the state to the market, the third sector, and the community/family sector) to engage in affordable housing provision and development, but not a necessary condition for collaborative housing to respond to in these two countries.

Collective Housing in Belgium and the Netherlands: A Comparative Analysis

Collective housing (CH) is undergoing a revival in Belgium. Since 2009, the Flemish Government Architect and his team have been advocating CH, stressing its importance as a task for architects given the demand for affordable housing and the need to reduce the environmental impact of housing. This support for CH has converged with the work of the non-profit citizen organization Samenhuizen<em> </em>(“Living together”) and the ad hoc initiatives taken by individual households and architects. In the Netherlands too, where there is a longer tradition of CH, the phenomenon is once more on the rise because of the housing crisis. As it is a developing topic, the terminology used for CH is also evolving. Drawing on publications on the subject in both Belgium and the Netherlands as well as on interviews with relevant stakeholders, this article sheds light on two widely published cases in both countries (pioneering and current, greenfield and conversion). These cases are compared in regard to thematic areas, based on an extensive literature study on collaborative housing by Lang et al. (2018). In addition to such aspects as the balance between “individuality” and the “collective,” we compare the role played by architects in both countries. Besides similarities, we show that the historical context, and especially the housing policy of each country, has a great influence and that the role of the architect is essential in the development of older and contemporary cohousing projects.

Implementation Risk Factors of Collaborative Housing in Poland: The Case of ‘Nowe Żerniki’ in Wrocław

The main aim of this study is to elucidate implementation risk factors of collaborative housing in Poland. The research is based on Rogers’ framework supported by Kim and Mauborgne’s utility map. On this basis, in-depth interviews were carried out with the leader of a housing project called ‘Nowe Żerniki’ in Wrocław, residents of collaborative housing, third sector actors, architects and researchers. An analysis of potential demand for collaborative housing was conducted using focus groups for a selected group of students who will make housing choices in the coming years. In their work, the authors assess the factors inhibiting the rate of diffusion of collaborative housing in Poland, point out the utility constraints and try to formulate the basic conditions for socio-technical transitions in the area of grassroots housing. The results indicate that collaborative housing in Poland requires a friendly and supporting environment, credit institutions with experience in handling innovative housing projects and experienced leaders. The connection to the place and the local capital are crucial factors for all the key actors of the collaborative housing process.

Does Sharing with Neighbours Work? Accounts of Success and Failure from Two German Housing Experimentations

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the normalization of everyday sharing practices in two exemplary German neighbourhoods, which both provide numerous opportunities for sharing spaces, stuff, food and mobility carriers, but differ regarding their “philosophy”. The first case belongs to the increasingly popular “collaborative housing” model, the second one is a developer-driven, service-based project. Inspired by core ideas from Social Practice Theory, the guiding questions of this research are then 1) to which extent have sharing practices become a normal part of residents’ lives in these neighbourhoods and 2) what may explain observed differences? Evidence shows that residents in the collaborative housing case share more frequently, more regularly and over longer timespans than their counterparts in the developer-driven neighbourhood. I argue that this is due to a higher share of fitting practice configurations and a better integration of sharing practices into tenants’ typical patterns of everyday life.

Sustainability through Resilient Collaborative Housing Networks: A Case Study of an Australian Pop-Up Shelter

The UN Sustainable Development Goal “Sustainable Cities and Communities” foregrounds access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing. However, housing as a sector has faced significant sustainability challenges. Countries such as Australia face unaffordable house prices, bottlenecks in social housing supply, and escalating homelessness. To address these challenges, the sector has turned to traditional government-led interventions meant to influence supply and demand. We argue that alongside these traditional approaches, there is a need for multi-stakeholder collaboration in resilient networks that create novel niche solutions, one being pop-up shelters or dwellings established in vacant structures. This study’s main aim is to identify key elements of these resilient, collaborative actor–networks. We mobilise actor–network theory concepts in a qualitative case study involving one of Australia’s first pop-up shelters. Findings from semi-structured interviews suggest that resilient networks exhibit distributed leadership, the ability to selectively interrogate entrenched routines, and the ability to mobilise differentiated levels of convergence. Such resilient networks play an important role in the development of environmentally and socially sustainable housing solutions. While often ad hoc, these networks can be made systematic through the selective use of digital technologies which do not compromise the more contingent, adaptive features of networks which are critical to resilience.

Architectural Design in Rethinking the Future of Co-Housing in Malaysia

Co-housing is a collaborative housing concept designed to foster close social bonding and sustainable communities. With the rapid population growth, urban sprawls and housing prices in Malaysia, this concept has gained traction in the housing sector as a viable housing alternative to the existing property market due to its social, economic and sustainability benefits. This paper aims to establish a set of design best practices by conducting a qualitative study on three selected Malaysian co-housing locations and design providers (DP). The methodology consists of interviews, literature reviews and case studies where data gained from the interviews are reviewed with data from the literature and case studies. The resulting analysis recommends that co-housing should focus on the following design aspects: demography size, surrounding context, spatial configuration, space design, “environmental psychology theory” and sustainability considerations. This paper concludes by providing several potential co-housing issues and recommendations for enhancing the benefits of co-housing in Malaysia.

Affordability through design: the role of building costs in collaborative housing

Against the background of the current housing affordability crisis, a new wave of ‘collaborative housing’ (CH) is developing in many European cities. In this paper, CH refers to housing projects where residents choose to share certain spaces and are involved in the design phase. While many authors point to the alleged economic benefits of living in CH, the (collaborative) design dimension is rarely mentioned in relation to affordability. This paper seeks to fill this knowledge gap by identifying design criteria used in CH to reduce building costs, increasing this way its affordability. We carry out a comparative case study research, where we assess the design phase of 16 CH projects in different European cities. Findings suggest that collaborative design processes increase the chances of improving housing affordability, mainly due to the often-applied needs-based approach and the redefinition of minimum housing standards. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2021.2009778 .

Older Adult Residents in Cohousing Communities: Impact and Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This cross-sectional study explored the experiences of older adults in cohousing communities in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cohousing- an intentionally designed collaborative housing community- provides opportunities for social support. Restrictions due to the pandemic may be associated with less opportunities for social and physical connectedness. Most participants did not feel lonely or left out but did feel isolated. Feeling lonely or left out were associated with poor health status, living alone, being single, and having less contact outside of the community. It was unclear if feeling isolated was a result of or was intensified due to the pandemic.

Who Owns Collaborative Housing? A Conceptual Typology of Property Regimes

ABSTRACT Tenure in collaborative housing remains under contextualized. Unpacking tenure contributes to internal differentiation of collaborative housing, its comparison to other modes of housing provision and the evaluation of potential benefits. This paper develops an ideal-typical typology of tenure through property regimes. These constitute social arrangements regarding the allocation of rights, rules and roles with respect to a resource. In terms of organizational characteristics, collaborative housing is based on limited common property, self-governance and sets of internal rules. While sharing these characteristics with other residential communities, collaborative housing can be differentiated by virtue of collectively held management and commissioning rights. Property regimes are a mediating variable for both positive and negative effects attributed to collaborative housing.

Social integration through social connection in everyday life. Residents' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in SällBo collaborative housing, Sweden

PurposeThe aim of this article is to explore the everyday life experiences of elderly (+70 years) living with young locals and refugees in a collaborative housing project before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden. The paper discusses the importance of the spatial dimension in the conceptualization of social integration.Design/methodology/approachThe main method is a qualitative case study based on observations of settings, document/video analysis, online diary entries made by ten residents and eight semi- structured interviews conducted with the residents.FindingsSällBo was conceived as a new type of collaborative housing in which elderly, young locals and refugees share common spaces with the aim of enabling social integration. In this context, COVID-19 interrupted the ongoing processes of living together after four months of moving to the house. The three main themes that emerge from the empirical material are (1) changes in the use of common spaces and social interactions, (2) residents' resilient coping responses during the pandemic and (3) insights for future design of collaborative housing based on their experience. The pandemic caused a moment of institutional vacuum, which triggered the agency of the residents whilst developing social bonds and social bridges among them.Social implicationsSocial connection created in everyday life at SällBo's common spaces has triggered processes of social integration.Originality/valueThe ongoing processes of social integration have included the spatial dimension. We understand social integration as a process that involves people from different generations and ethnical backgrounds, which takes place in common spaces and everyday life as different modes of socialization.

Kollektivhus: the Swedish model

Today there is a new wave of co-housing internationally. Co-housing is here understood as collaborative housing, based on collaboration between residents on cooking and house maintenance, a new phenomenon since the 1980s. Sweden has a tradition since early modernism of kollektivhus, collective houses, in multi-family dwellings with employed staff managing household work. In Sweden today there are only some 40 true kollektivhus or co-housing projects, while ordinary Swedish postwar multi-family dwellings have common facilities that potentially would make them co-housing. Co-housing is often seen as a sustainable house form, but a problem is that they mainly reach middle-class residents.

Social sustainability and supportive living: exploring motivations of British cohousing groups

ABSTRACT “Cohousing” is a collective housing model, which has the potential to offer socially and environmentally sustainable housing for a community. It is a collaborative housing concept designed to foster meaningful relationships, closer social bonding, and more efficient use of resources. This study aimed to examine the motivations of cohousing groups to create or enter a cohousing community in the UK and identify potential issues to improve future cohousing development. In total, 24 people participated in this study: 18 cohousing group members and 6 project architects. Interviews were conducted in eight cohousing communities in the UK. The results showed that the social aspect was the driving characteristic attracting people to a cohousing project. This study focused on social aspects related to cohousing, but environmental, financial, family, and health aspects were analyzed as well. Potential issues were identified based on the experiences of group members and the architects, which showed the concerns and obstacles experienced by cohousing group members. The findings of this study could be used as an evidence-based tool to enhance social engagement for the development of future cohousing communities and other collaborative residential facilities.