Denmark

Abstract

Co-housing in Denmark is often seen as pioneering and relatively successful. This chapter charts the history of Danish intergenerational co-housing since around 1970. Much has changed over the past five decades. But with some exceptions and modification, Danish co-housing projects are characterized by combining individual housing units with common spaces and activities aimed at everyday life, and they tend to be purpose-built and low-rise buildings in suburban or quasi-rural settings. However, there have been noticeable shifts in the tenure forms that have been used to realize this basic structure. Owner occupation dominated in the 1970s, cooperative tenure took over during the 1980s and early 1990s, while more recent co-housing projects again are mainly based on owner occupation. There are examples of rental co-housing in non-profit housing associations, but such projects are comparatively few. Danish co-housing projects are to a large extent enclaves for the relatively privileged. In this chapter it is argued that this importantly relates to the prevalence of owner occupation. But Danish co-housing also points at more affordable and possibly more inclusive ways to organize ownership in co-housing.

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