XS>XL: The emerging concept of commercial co-living and its influence on users-affordability and developers-profitability

The worldwide urbanization is resulting in increasingly densified urban areas, aiming for the development of more space efficient cities. The increase of urban inhabitants, also in the Netherlands, has put vast pressure on the demand of housing in the city. Mainly affected by the Dutch housing crisis are young and elderly people looking for mid-segment rental housing, of which the availability of affordable housing is problematic. Simultaneously, Dutch demographics are changing wherein an extensive increase of one-person households is expected. With a traditional housing stock serving mainly one-family households, the vast shortages and the increasing demand, this future mismatch on the housing market frames the current issue. With the emergence of a new economic landscape, the sharing economy provides new insights in possible solutions for the housing crisis: the concept of shared housing of which commercial co-living. This raises the question what this concept comprises of and how the characteristics of this concept can influence upon the affordability of housing and perhaps stimulate developers by providing a profitable development and operation. Through the diminishing of private space but addition of larger communal areas, the concept of co-living can decrease rental costs but increase number of units, possibly serving the user-affordability and developers-profitability. Through research into the concept of co-living, a thorough analysis of state-of-the-art examples and subsequently framing the characteristics of co-living. An analysis upon the level of influence of these characteristics in regards of the users-affordability and developers-profitability, give an initial insight in the economic opportunities of co-living on the commercial housing market.Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Management in the Built Environmen