Design for Gender Equality: The History of Co-Housing Ideas and Realities

Abstract

Today's development of alternative types of housing with communal spaces and shared facilities, called cohousing, has been influenced by utopian visions, practical proposals and implemented pro-jects far back in the past. This article traces the driving forces behind the various models of communitarian settlements, cooperative housekeeping, central kitchen buildings, collective housing and collaborative residential experiments while focusing specifically on the design and gender aspects of these models. An emphasis is given to feminist arguments for cohousing, as well as a discussion of the patriarchal resistance against various forms of housing and living based on equality and neighbourly cooperation. The article includes an analysis of the relief of house work burdens and of the possibility for men to be courageously domesticated through this type of housing. The main research methods comprise analyses of literature and the researchers' own practical experiences of cohousing. The authors claim that cohousing in Scandinavian and some other countries has contributed to a more equal distribution of responsibilities for house work. However, the number of people living in cohousing is still too small to influence the gender segregation of labour markets. It is furthermore concluded that design factors, such as the quality of shared spaces, easy access to common rooms and indoor communication, are important for the smooth functioning of cohousing.

The role of shared space for the building and maintenance of community from the gender perspective - a longitudinal case study in a neighbourhood of Helsinki

“…At the end of the 1970s, it was in fact the previously hostile municipal housing companies which implemented most of the new experiments. Currently there are some 50 collectives in Sweden, based on this model (Vestbro & Horelli, 2012).…”

“…Today's development of alternative types of housing with communal spaces has been influenced by utopian visions, practical proposals and implemented projects far back in the past. The driving forces behind the various models of communitarian settlements, cooperative housekeeping, central kitchen buildings, collective housing and collaborative residential experiments have recently been analysed from the gender perspective in the historical account of the past two hundred years by Vestbro and Horelli (2012). The analysis disclosed that the driving forces behind the selected communal 4 I. Surname living models have varied strongly.…”

“…Irrespective of its long history, cohousing only constitutes a tiny fraction of the total housing stock even in those countries where this form of dwelling is fairly frequent. According to Vestbro and Horelli (2012), the share of apartments in Swedish cohousing is estimated to be 0.05 per cent of the total housing stock. In Denmark, which is regarded as the leading cohousing country, the share is almost 1 per cent.…”

“…Literature on the history of cohousing from the gender perspective (see Vestbro & Horelli, 2012) provides evidence that cohousing increases equality between women and men by making the domestic chores visible and thus sharable by both sexes. This does not mean that women and men appropriate the spaces in the same way.…”

The potential of cohousing for rural Austria

“…Research results have shown that cohousing projects have been, and still are, pioneers in the co-creation and flexible adaptation of infrastructures for everyday life, and in the provision of tailor-made housing solutions for special interest groups, which are not sold on the market (ALTER-PROP 2011Tummers 2012). Since the first cohousing projects, the sharing of tasks like childcare and cooking has been a key element of all cohousing projects (Vestbro and Horelli 2012;Jarvis 2011). A better organisation and distribution of domestic tasks remains essential for new projects.…”