Cohousing: what is it and what lifestyle does it propose?

A model of community living based on solidarity and the act of sharing.

We live in a society that over time has become increasingly individualistic, at least in the urban environment: everyone is concerned about their own lives and those of their immediate environment, but has been losing the feeling of community and union with the rest of the people around us.

This tendency towards individualism is gradually becoming more noticeable, and with the passage of time alternative ways and models of living have emerged that, theoretically, try to generate community. An example of this is cohousingwhich we are going to talk about in this article.

What is cohousing or cohousing?

It is known as cohousing, or in Spanish covivienda, to a model or style of community that supposes the creation of a self-managed community in which coexistence is centered on collectivity and cooperation with the rest of the members of the community.

Based on solidarity with the rest of the community and with an organization that functions in a democratic manner, this is a type of organization that the generation of a socio-community network of support and in which there is a great cohesion among the people who are part of it. among the people who are part of it.

This type of community is usually configured around one or (more usually), multiple individual houses or buildings with different shared common areas where social and community life takes place. where social and community life takes place. Each of the users or inhabitants of a cohousing is an active part of this community, and is also responsible for participating in its management.

Although the name may make it seem the opposite, cohousing does not necessarily imply that everyone lives in the same house and without any kind of privacy. and without any kind of privacy: although there are cases in which multi-family dwellings are built and cohabited, in general each individual or family has its own house.

Each member of this community has his or her own personal and economic autonomy. However, sometimes in this type of society the economic system may tend to reduce or eliminate the idea of private property in favor of collective property (although its economy is not shared), and trade based on the exchange or barter of services.

Main characteristics of cohousing

One of the main bases of a cohousing is that it is based, as we have seen above, on solidarity and the search for social cohesion and active participation in the community..

Another of them is sustainability, since it is based on a design directly intended for the use that is going to be given to each of the spaces. In addition to this, it allows to give a use and bring back to life to areas that are little inhabited or in the process of abandonment, as these communities can use these areas, remodel them and live in them (something that also allows to recover or keep alive the history of these places).

It is also common for community spaces to include elements that allow for the management and management and production of their own resources, such as vegetable gardens, gardens, etc.)..

In addition, one of the most relevant bases of cohousing is the way of organizing and making decisions. There is no hierarchical structure (although it is possible for an individual to take a leadership role in some aspect in which he/she decides to specialize).

The relationship with the homes can be variable. The most common is that the houses are not owned by the individual, but by the community, of which the user has a usufruct for life, and are designed or adapted to the needs of the subject. In this sense, they have the advantage that they do not involve an economic expense as high as that of maintaining a home of one's own..

Last but not least, it reduces problems such as loneliness and the need for care without having to lose independence at the individual level, while generating a collaborative culture and a common link between the members of the society created.

Implementation in the elderly: senior cohousing

Cohousing is a trend that, although not particularly well known, is gradually becoming more popular. Its history is not so recent: its most modern origins are to be found in the 1960s, specifically in Denmark, from where it spread to the Nordic countries and the United States.from where it spread to the Nordic countries and the United States. Since then, different modalities have emerged, of which one of the most widespread at present (at least in Spain) is the one that has to do with the elderly.

In senior cohousing, the inhabitants of the community are people over 55 years of age. The reason why the popularity of this type of community organization has increased in this sector is the existence of two of the most painful scourges that a large number of elderly people may have to face: loneliness and, in the case of people with few resources, poverty..

Many people resort to cohousing because it allows them to maintain an organization based on solidarity and social cohesion, in addition to greatly reducing the economic cost of maintaining a house or renting nowadays.

And not only that: one of the social implications of this type of cohousing is that a paternalistic view of old age, in which the elderly person himself or herselfin which the elderly person was seen as a rather passive subject. Instead, the activity of the elderly person is promoted as someone with experience and with the need to participate in the world around him, providing him with responsibility and the possibility of exercising different types of social functions according to community needs.

Bibliographical references:

• Banford, G. (2005). Cohousing for older people: Housing innovation in the Netherlands and Denmark. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 24 (1): 44-46.
• George, V. (2006). Review of Sustainable community: Learning from the cohousing model. Community Development Journal, nº. 41(3): 393-398.
• McCamant, K. & Durrett, C. (1989). Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves. Berkeley, University of California Press.
• Rosa Jiménez, C.L., Márquez Ballesteros, M.J., Navas Carrillo, D. (2017). Hacia un nuevo modelo de gestión y autofinanciación de la regeneración de barriadas obsoletas. Ciudades, 20: 45-70.