Reinventing co-housing in Denmark after the neoliberal turn

Based on six case studies of co-housing projects recently built or in the process of development, this paper discusses the new co-housing models in Denmark after the neoliberal turn and the financial crisis. The country known for inventing the modern cooperatively developed co-housing model in the 1970s and -80s, is at the moment grappling with a new wave of interest in co-housing but at the same time meeting new financial and legal challenges originating in political changes of the middle of the previous decade. The examples presented show different ways in which co-housing is being developed at the moment – from the social housing sector via private start-up businesses with or without a for profit developer, to attempts at (re-)introducing private co-building groups according to the German Baugruppen model. Different forms of ‘commoning-practices’ develop in the projects, linked to different forms of architectural and social organization. It is interesting to note how architectural innovation, in these projects often go hand in hand with social innovation. This can at times cause challenges for the building process, but corroborates research from Germany and Switzerland2 on how more social development forms may lead to more innovative and tailor-made architectural solutions. The research for the paper is based on interviews with current and future residents, as well as developers, housing organizations, authorities and other actors in the development processes. It is part of a post doc project ‘DiversifyNow! New forms of housing in the city’, which is a collaboration between Vandkunsten Architects and The Danish National Building Research Institute at Aalborg University, partially funded by Innovation Fund Denmark