Rethinking the way we live: co-housing

As London grapples with the housing crisis, there is an increasing demand for different housing options.

Co-housing is an innovative option that offers social as well as economic benefits, creating flexible forms of independent living within a connected neighbourhood. Co-housing communities in the UK range from around ten to 40 households with each site planned around shared facilities and an ambition of community integration at the core. But is this Danish concept being taken seriously enough? What can the designers and planners of conventional residential developments learn from co-housing projects? Is it possible to design-out social isolation? Should housing associations, developers and councils be looking to this typology as a mainstream option for UK housing?

Hear and interrogate architect, resident and campaigner perspectives on how co-housing works.

Speakers:

Meredith Bowles of Mole Architects, winners of the Cambridge K1 Co-housing Group competition, creating Cambridge's first co-housing project.

Maria Brenton of Older Women's Co-housing, the first co-housing community for senior people in the UK.

Stephen Hill of C20 Future Planners, experts in neighbourhood-scale regeneration and spatial planning.

More speakers to be announced.