What is this coliving thing, anyway?

‘Coliving’ or ‘co-living’ has become a catch-all term for living together, but confusingly, it is also the name used to describe a relatively new iteration of urban communal living – the professionally managed kind. Rather than this type of coliving conjuring images of assorted mugs in the kitchen cupboard, chore rotas on chalk boards and jumbled wellies in the porch, it evokes chic lobbies, long, hotel-like corridors, and events programmes. So, what is this coliving thing, anyway?  This paper begins by defining coliving and its different typologies. It explores the origins of coliving, which blended San Francisco Hacker Houses with traditional real estate characteristics of the hospitality, build-to-rent and student accommodation sectors. It explores the global growth of coliving, and the drivers of this growth, which include a lack of affordable and high-quality housing in cities, people ‘settling down’ and having children later in life, and the normalisation of service, sharing and tech industries. Finally, this paper explores whether coliving is fulfilling its promises of offering affordable, high-quality, and community-centered housing.