Last night saw the launch of the book CoHousing Cultures, published by id22: Institut für kreative Nachhaltigkeit together with jovis Verlag, Berlin. The book gives an insight into the colourful variety of CoHousing projects in Europe, with examples from Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Milan and other cities. It is intended as an inspiration for collective, self-organised and sustainable forms of living, and together with the CoHousing platform seeks to connect current and future projects in an international network.
The launch was a celebration of these possibilities. As Michael LaFond, director of ID22 explained in his introduction, housing projects in their different forms present interesting perspectives for a more sustainable urban development. They are centres of learning and experimentation in cities, offering solutions to gentrification pressures and lack of affordable housing.
A number of presentations gave a lively illustration to these points.
Rolf Novy-Huy of Stiftung trias offered an insight into the work of the foundation on the topics of society & living, land issues and ecology, and their efforts to promote an international exchange between projects.
Karin Lischke of Stadtambulanz Vienna introduced some exemplary projects such as the Seestadt Aspern and Rosa, a Cohousing project for women. Their work also includes the Experimentdays Vienna with a project fair, ideas workshop and opportunities for networking among interested actors.
Representatives from two further projects featured in the book, Vrijburcht in Amsterdam and Färdknäppen in Stockholm, gave an idea of the specific development processes and arrangements in larger cohousing initiatives. They touched on issues of self-organisation, collective living in the 2nd half of life, and the integration in the wider neighbourhood, opening up the topic for a wider discussion during the reception.
More information about the book and the CoHousing platform:
http://co-housing-cultures.net/