Why Do People Move to Cohousing Communities in Sweden? - Are there any Significant Differences Between the +40 Cohousing and the Mixed-Age Cohousing?

Choi, Jung Shin

doi:10.5659/AIKAR.2013.15.2.77

Title & Authors

Why Do People Move to Cohousing Communities in Sweden? - Are there any Significant Differences Between the +40 Cohousing and the Mixed-Age Cohousing?
Choi, Jung Shin;

Abstract

Cohousing is based on collaborative network, or fictive kin in the community. It could facilitate the goal of self-sufficiency. This research aims to investigate the motivation of move to cohousing communities in Sweden, and to find out if there are any significant differences according to two different cohousing types; between the +40 cohousing and the mixed-age cohousing. The +40 cohousing is a kind of senior cohousing in which residents are supposed to be aged over 40. Questionnaire survey was applied and 242 collected data were analyzed by SPSS statistical program. Notable differences in demographic and dwelling variables are found between the 2 groups. There are more women, singles, academics, and small dwellings in the +40 cohousing than in the mixed-age cohousing. Referring motivation of move, "sharing common activity" and "idea of cohousing" are commonly noticed as the main reasons why people move to cohousing communities. Major difference between the 2 groups is that residents of the +40 cohousing tend to stress more on social interaction with neighbors than practical merit. On the contrary, ones of the mixed-age cohousing focus more on practical advantage than social interaction. As a conclusion, it is evident that motivation of move to cohousing communities is different by cohousing types, which have different residents' characteristics. Cohousing could contribute to elevate marginal group's quality of life as an alternative living environment. Therefore, cohousing design has to be tailored to adapt residents' specific needs of different life-stages. In order to implement cohousing model into other countries, for instance into Korea, it needs to experiment with the notion of transplanting selected cohousing principles to a public housing development. In the mixed-age cohousing where more dual income families with young children than conventional housing developments reside, residents would need more practical advantage than emotional support in the community, while as residents in the senior cohousing need vice versa.

Keywords

Cohousing;Sweden;Motivation of Move;Senior Cohousing;+40 Cohousing;Mixed-Age Cohousing;

Language

English

Cited by

1time(s) in KSCD

1.

공동활동참여도와 공동생활공간만족도의 효과 - 스웨덴 코하우징 거주자의 잠정적 주거조절 틀 속에서 -,최정신;조재순;서귀숙;

한국주거학회논문집, 2014. vol.25. 4, pp.125-133

2time(s) in CrossRef

1.

Differences of Participation in Common Activities and Life Satisfaction in Swedish Senior Cohousing by Longitudinal Analyses : Focus on Differences Between the Years of 2001 and 2010, Journal of Korean Home Management Association, 2016, 34, 1, 1

2.

Participation in Common Activities and Satisfaction with Common Space - In a Tentative Framework of Housing Adjustment for Swedish Cohousing Residents -, Journal of the Korean housing association, 2014, 25, 4, 125

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