Page 26 - C.A.L.L. #34 - Winter 2011/2012

Cohousing – an instrument for peaceful resolution of conflict

19.10.11

Cohousing, i.e. housing with communal spaces and shared facilities, is gaining
momentum in Europe, USA, Australia and some other countries. The author of this
article has been involved in research on cohousing since the middle of the 1960s and
lives in one such housing unit in Stockholm since 1996. In this article the focus is put
on the possible contribution of cohousing to peaceful resolution of conflict.

The cohousing models of today were influenced by examples far back in history. In
her books about the history of communitarian settlements in the USA the famous
feminist architect researcher Dolores Hayden finds that these projects were based
on wishes to establish
self-sufficient
settlements incorporating
both industry and
agriculture. The design
solutions were determined
by the machine ideal

(forerunners of
modernism), the model
home idea (emphasising
new lifestyles) and/or the
garden ideal (forerunners
of ecovillages 100 years In the cohousing unit Tullstugan in Stockholm (home of the
later). author) 50 residents share the duty of preparing dinners four
evenings a week. Each member is served meals 18 out of 20
Today‟s most frequent times without any duties of shopping, cooking or dish washing.
cohousing model developed Twice every fifth week one has to spend four hours cooking
for other residents. Men and women have equal duties.
from the end of the 1960s,
especially in Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Danish cohousing is

often initiated by groups who plan, design and manage their cohousing project
themselves, while the Swedish and Dutch models are built by public housing
companies. In both models the idea of collaboration is strongly manifest.

Cohousing in USA was influenced by the Danish model, much due to the book
Cohousing by the architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett. They have
designed more than 50 cohousing units. The national US network for cohousing lists
260 projects, including those in the formation stage (see http://www.cohousing.org/).
Cohousing is described as the opposite of the materialistic „American Dream‟, the one
where owning a single-family detached house, a two-car garage, and a private yard is

the desired goal.