Can the Sustainability of 'Cohousing' in the UK Be Sustained?

This paper looks at recent development of 'Cohousing' proposals and projects in the UK and seeks to review them against the essential features of the Cohousing tradition originally imported from Scandinavia and North America to check if the core values of Cohousing neighbourhoods are gradually being eroded by other interests. A critical evaluation will be given to ascertaining if the factors identified as being essential to achieving the Cohousing dynamic in practical projects are being maintained, or whether there is a growing weakening of these by British housing and property interests that is now blurring the  distinctiveness of ‘Cohousing’ from other collaborative or neighbourhood-focused projects. The paper bases the essential elements of Cohousing neighbourhoods as all having each of the following aspects:

-          a design for intentional social contact and leisure between residents

-          extensive common facilities that supplement self-contained accommodation

-          a size and scale of development that underpins sustainable relationships

-          decision-making and ownership under the control of the Cohousing community

It notes, however that new projects are claiming a status as ‘Cohousing’ neighbourhoods even without one of more of these necessary factors - for example, in being twice as large as the recommended maximum size; or having no Common House; or having speculative developers take key decisions on tenures and allocations and costs, or propose neighbourhood designs based on contemporary nuclear family dynamics, rather than maximising communal contact and relationships. The paper acknowledges that ‘collaborative’ projects can take many shapes and forms, however it is argued that the glib insistence of labelling so many as ‘Cohousing’ projects will inevitably weaken how the success and sustainability of the original Cohousing schemes can be replicated, bringing discredit to the ‘Cohousing’ concept and confusion to understanding what is required for its ultimate success.