Contemporary Co-housing in Europe: Towards Sustainable Cities?

by Pernilla Hagbert (Editor), Henrik Gutzon Larsen (Editor), Håkan Thörn (Editor), Cathrin Wasshede (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032085234
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/30/2021
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Co-housing, sustainable urban development and governance – an introduction; Part I Co-housing in context 1. Denmark: anti-urbanism and segregation; 2. Sweden: in between co-housing and public housing; 3. Hamburg: housing movements and local government; 4. Barcelona: housing crisis and urban activism; Part II Co-housing as sustainable urban life? 5. Autonomy vs. government: consequences for sustainability in co-housing; 6. Urban activism and co-housing; 7. Doing family in co-housing communities; 8. The social logic of space: community and detachment; 9. Co-housing as a socio-ecologically sustainable alternative?; Community and autonomy: constraints and possibilities for co-housing to address contemporary urban and ecological crises – a conclusion; Acknowledgments; Index