1st Edition

Contemporary Co-housing in Europe Towards Sustainable Cities?

    228 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    228 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book investigates co-housing as an alternative housing form in relation to sustainable urban development.



    Co-housing is often lauded as a more sustainable way of living. The primary aim of this book is to critically explore co-housing in the context of wider social, economic, political and environmental developments. This volume fills a gap in the literature by contextualising co-housing and related housing forms. With focus on Denmark, Sweden, Hamburg and Barcelona, the book presents general analyses of co-housing in these contexts and provides specific discussions of co-housing in relation to local government, urban activism, family life, spatial logics and socio-ecology.





    This book will be of interest to students and researchers in a broad range of social-scientific fields concerned with housing, urban development and sustainability, as well as to planners, decision-makers and activists.

    Co-housing, sustainable urban development and governance – an introduction

    Håkan Thörn, Henrik Gutzon Larsen, Pernilla Hagbert and Cathrin Wasshede

    Part 1

    Co-housing in context

    1. Denmark: anti-urbanism and segregation

    Henrik Gutzon Larsen

    2. Sweden: in between co-housing and public housing

    Claes Caldenby

    3. Hamburg: housing movements and local government

    David Scheller

    4. Barcelona: housing crisis and urban activism

    Henrik Gutzon Larsen

    Part 2

    Co-housing as sustainable urban life?

    5. Autonomy vs. government: consequences for sustainability in co-housing

    David Scheller and Håkan Thörn

    6. Urban activism and co-housing

    David Scheller and Henrik Gutzon Larsen

    7. Doing family in co-housing communities

    Cathrin Wasshede

    8. The social logic of space: community and detachment

    Claes Caldenby, Pernilla Hagbert and Cathrin Wasshede

    9. Co-housing as a socio-ecologically sustainable alternative?

    Pernilla Hagbert

    Constraints and possibilities for co-housing to address contemporary urban and ecological crises: A conclusion

    Håkan Thörn, Henrik Gutzon Larsen, Pernilla Hagbert and Cathrin Wasshede

    Acknowledgments

    Index

    Biography

    Pernilla Hagbert holds a PhD in Architecture and is currently a researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Her research explores home-related practices and everyday life, interpretations of sustainability in housing and urban development, and norm-critical, alternative ways of living, as part of sustainability transitions.



    Henrik Gutzon Larsen teaches Human Geography at Lund University, Sweden. His research addresses urban geography and housing, political geography and history of geographical thought.



    Håkan Thörn is Full Professor of Sociology at University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research is concerned with social movements, urban governance and globalization, and he has published a number of articles and books on these topics, including Urban Uprisings: Challenging Neoliberal Urbanism in Europe (co-edited, 2017) and Christiania 1971–2011: Space for Urban Alternatives (co-edited, 2011).



    Cathrin Wasshede is positioned at the Department of Sociology and Work Science at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her research addresses gender and sexuality, resistance and (urban) social movements.