Intentional communities: Methods for reviewing the rise of citizens’ housing initiatives in a European perspective

Intentional communities, Cooperatives de logement, Genossenschaften or Co-housing are types of collaborative housing in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own neighbourhoods. Cohousing residents are consciously committed to living as a community, and to managing the accommodation by themselves. The physical design to combine both social contact and individual space requires a gradual range of semi-public/-private spaces. Collective investment opens opportunities for renewable energy networks and sustainable innovative building. Many initiators as well as scholars therefore see a potential in the projects as experiments for the transition toward sustainable production and collaborative governance. Housing politicians and executive institutes tend to be more sceptical and perceive cooperative self-steered housing as peripheral solutions for a small minority of dwellers. This paper approaches the field from an architectural point of view. It applies criteria from gender-theory to investigate in how far the intentional communities represent a model for inclusive, ecological housingUrbanismArchitectur