It is a different lifestyle, or rather, with reminiscences of village life, of that solidarity, respect and community experience. Philosophy is SHARE .
The concept of residential model Collaborative was born in Denmark between the years 60-70 with subsequent implementation in the United States and progressively in different countries, with a very notable acceptance in a society that prioritizes individualism.
Formed by a group of private houses where services are highlighted and implemented in high regard common . Raised and managed by their own owners who are the ones who decide the type of housing where live, which allows them to define their needs from the Initial project.
Residential Complex = More Super. Community and less Private Surface.
The following video graphically explains very clearly the cohousing concept …
But what is the difference between a cohousing model and the traditional private housing….
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Although you can investigate a lot on this topic and consider many doubts, to a large extent, the comparison between the cohousing with the private housing model traditional would be:
| Co-housing | Private Property |
| Focused on the community | Focused on the individual space |
| Reduction of housing space | Individual dwellings are of higher dimension |
| Costs shared by the community | Private costs |
| Focused model generated less impact environmental | Designs don't necessarily think about the medium environment |
| The space is an asset of access to the entire community (Except in part private housing) | Common spaces are useless to life social |
| Security systems provided by them community members | Individualized security systems |
| Has characteristics of a condominium (A style "club") | It is a purely private good |
| It is designed to generate participation among users | In most cases, participation is not a priority |
| It is designed with elements to guarantee health of people | Health depends on each individual or family |
| Community resources are shared; dining room, laundry, more common areas, enjoyment room, meetings, etc. | Community resources are very limited |
The most common is the cooperative with assignment of use, in which the cooperative is the owner and people have the right of indefinite use. It is a right that can be transferred by inheritance and can be sold through the cooperative. This facilitates the possibility of changing from one cohousing to another in function of the vital needs in each period of the life.
Coexistence and cooperation are prioritized between residents , as well as the centralization of equipment and services, which ends up providing benefits social, improvements in energy efficiency, economic and environmental. Based on the following features:
The cohousing projects are for everyone world, although its beginnings were directed before the people of the elderly and their problems in the face of increasingly isolated greater by modern society.
We remember that the needs of people majors are mainly needs of people (regardless of age), beginning, as Maslow (1976) structured:
The initial idea was to act mainly on society of the third Age". But there are already a wide variety of consumers who advocate living in community, want to break the current stimuli of individualism and promote the community relationships. And, above all, improve the quality of life …
Over the years, as the model has evolved, they have appeared more kinds of cohousing, differentiated mainly by their form of administration and how they are related to the individuals. An example of the types of models of most representative cohousing :
| Model | Resident-run model | Association model | Speculative model |
| Model description | Full dedication to all administrative tasks and of the community, directed by the same community. | In the partnership model, both developers as residents they work together. | In this model, only developers They take care of all the processes. |
| Community Vision | All residents involved. | All residents involved. | Developers. |
| Recruitment | All residents involved. | All residents involved with help professional. | Developers. |
| Legal structures and financing | All residents involved with help professional. | led by the developer(s). | Developers. |
| Design processes | All residents involved with help professional. | Developer-led with revenue from residents. | Developers. |
| Community development | All residents involved with help professional, before and during the housing process in community. | All residents involved with help professional, before and during the housing process in community. | Led by the residents, once they start living in community. |
Based on the different administrations and style of life that is intended to follow, architecture raised several options. For example, a approach to the cohousing developments :
We must not forget that relationships in community make us feel more "human" and that the future is envisioned with relatively affordable housing in purchase or rent, but high maintenance costs. This type of construction directly affects the reduction of the outlay on maintenance.
There is a document that I find interesting – it is short of read- and they are Reflections based on the questions raised by a user about the fit of the cohousing model in a individualistic society, both from the social aspect and the economic and consumption, also related to their experience of failure of the common space in the dwelling of Germany communist.Access from HERE.
To learn more from the web Ecohousing.es where You can consult all the necessary information as well as Projects. Also from the following two documents I believe are useful:
As we are seeing the interest that the present post. I'm going to add some comments interesting that they communicate to us or parallel projects.
From Valencia :
In Valencia, this concept has existed for centuries in the rural environment and is known as "tornallom". The villagers will they helped each other exchanging favors: one helped another with the potatoes and the next day the latter helped the first with the tomatoes :)
From Uruguay :
There have been experiences of this type since the 1960s Last century. From the creation of the Movement for the Eradication of Unhealthy Rural Housing (MEVIR) in 1967 and the Housing Law of 1968 opened a door for these types of experiences to begin, under different forms of management and ownership. The The most interesting experiences have been developed by the housing cooperatives , particularly self-build ones , grouped in the Uruguayan Federation of Cooperatives of Mutual Aid Housing (FUCVAM) . in cooperatives the property regime is common, not only of the spaces green spaces and community services, but of the houses themselves, being the occupants users of the same, members of the cooperative that is the owner. There are various technical support organizations for these experiences, perhaps the most important is the Uruguayan Cooperative Center (CCU) , and have worked on these experiences important professionals (I remember, for example, Arch. Miguel Cecil). For more information you can enter:
Points of interest:
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