Practicing co-housing: towards an understanding of the ongoing production of housing by citizen collectives

Abstract

In this research the potential of co-housing – understood as group-based, citizen-led housing initiatives – to contribute to a change in Dutch housing development practice is reviewed. In the context of a strongly institutionalised housing market, where residents usually passively choose housing based on what institutional developers offer, co-housing is proposed as a relevant alternative, both in the sense of the process of spatial planning and housing development and in the content that it produces. Practice theory is used to conceptualise the co-housing practice, from the emergence of initiatives to daily life in co-housing projects, and the tensions that exist between these practices and the conventional, institutional coordination of housing development and management in The Netherlands. A ‘diffuse’ research strategy, involving interviews with co-housing experts across a range of localities in The Netherlands, serves the explorative nature of the study. The theory and method allow for the combined interpretation of the micro-facets of co-housing and their relation to the practices of municipal authorities, housing corporations and commercial developers. The produced insights may contribute to a valuing of the potential of co-housing for spatial planning and housing development in The Netherlands, and the usability of practice theory for future research programmes.