cohousing inclusive | The Book

CoHousing Inclusive

Self-organized, community-led housing for all

Editor: id22: Institute for Creative Sustainability
Dr. Michael LaFond Larisa Tsvetkova
Publisher: Jovis Verlag
Format: Softcover
Size: 21 x 27 cm
Number of pages: 240 pages, num. col.
Languages: English/German
ISBN: 978-3-86859-462-1
Published: 09.2017
Price: Contact us about ordering the book.

The Book

This book contains critical reviews of model projects representing a multifaceted European movement, complemented with photos and drawings. Short texts argue how political and financial conditions can be improved to better realize community housing. Finally, a range of voices offer unconventional and promising strategies.

Book sample

Flip the pages of this book sample in order to get a taste of cohousing inclusive.

Voices from model projects

Sophie Schöffler

Resident

“I finally wanted to get out and find my own home. But, it’s really not easy to find a barrier-free flat. It’s been possible for me to found a shared flat group at the Spreefeld, and I enjoy living with two other young women. Of course not everything is possible without assistance: for example the passive building doors are heavy and the adjacent paths are not really wheelchair-accessible. And I really wish that the Spee shore would be designed accessible for wheelchairs. But I live independently here with personal assistance, I’m part of a community, and I always feel welcomed by the neighbors.”

Sven Lager

Founder

“Almost no one believed this idea as we were getting started: a multicultural, self-organized residential community in downtown Berlin... The project needed people that participated with heart and soul, regardless if it seemed possible or not. And we had such a core group. As we handed over management of the project after two years of planning and development, we’re amazed at how well this is working, despite all the human challenges. And now it means we need more Sharehaus projects, everywhere! Now, after handing over Refugio to the Berliner Stadtmission, we have time for new projects, and there is plenty of interest!”

Petra Spangenberg

WohnArt 3, resident

“In order to develop a self-responsibility for their own building, people need a strong motivation such as a common vision or communal property. In our rental CoHousing project, it is especially challenging to develop the community and hold it together over time. Inclusion in itself is not such a big topic though: a variety of people live together, and that’s just fine.”

Portrait Tobias Willimann and Therese Wuethrich

Tobias Willimann & Therese Wüthrich

Executive committee of the Warmbächli Housing Development Cooperative

“As we’re all residents somewhere, we’re all experts in this area. Still, most are missing the points of reference in their everyday lives to be able to really engage with different forms of housing. And so it’s important for us introduce as many cooperative members as possible to new ideas for creating and managing housing and community. This should give people the possibility to assimilate and work with innovations. In order to be able to collectively deal with the questions of how we want to live, it’s necessary for all of us to receive more input. This can be offered through excursions and exchanges with experts who share their experience as well as through various kinds of discussions.”

Alexander Hagner

Architect

“Each building is a parasite: it consumes space, resources and energy. But it can also become a symbiont, a process instead of just a building, and this was our aim in this project. In VinziRast-mittendrin we offer not only housing, but also places for interaction and others for retreat. In social housing this is in fact a necessity, not a luxury. This housing should do more than just allow people to survive. On the way to inclusion we have to imagine what projects can do, and not just what they have to do.”

Reviews

Das Buch geht kurz auf das “inklusive” Wohnen ein, um eine Vielzahl von modellhaften oder gar visionären Projekten zu präsentieren. Dabei hebt es sich von anderen Fachpublikationen durch die attraktive und übersichtliche Gestaltung ab. Der besondere Charme liegt in den vielen Statements von Initiantinnen und Initianten, Betreibern, Architektinnen und vor allem den unterschiedlichsten Bewohnerinnen und Bewohnern.

wohnen.ch
01/11/2017
wohnen.ch

Das Buch stellt zehn Wohnprojekte in sechs europäischen Städten im Detail vor, die Bezahlbarkeit, Partizipation, Inklusion und Nachbarschaftsentwicklung vereinen. Das Buch ist eine Fundgrube für neue Ansätze zur Lösung des Wohnungsproblems – auch mit unkonventionellen Mitteln.