Abstract
Sustainability challenges demands that we live smaller and more efficient in terms of re-sources and energy, at the same time, loneliness and mental unhealth are in-creasing among young people and students. One solution to both ecological and social sustain-ability is provided by coliving, where a small group of people share a home. Living in a shared home is an opportunity for friendship and sense of community but is also associated with frictions. This paper describes an interdisciplinary and experimental research project about coliving for students and particularly focuses on the social aspects and new practices of living together. We conclude that a small homelike environment has great potential to create the social belonging young people need as well as spreading sustainable practices, but there has to be a so-cial and practical structures there from the start in order to create a resilient and safe space for living.
Keywords
sustainability, student housing, wellbeing, social design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.413
Citation
Ilstedt, S., and Sjöman, M. (2022) The value of being close: Social and ecological sustainability in co-living for students, in Lockton, D., Lenzi, S., Hekkert, P., Oak, A., Sádaba, J., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2022: Bilbao, 25 June - 3 July, Bilbao, Spain. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.413
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Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
The value of being close: Social and ecological sustainability in co-living for students
Sustainability challenges demands that we live smaller and more efficient in terms of re-sources and energy, at the same time, loneliness and mental unhealth are in-creasing among young people and students. One solution to both ecological and social sustain-ability is provided by coliving, where a small group of people share a home. Living in a shared home is an opportunity for friendship and sense of community but is also associated with frictions. This paper describes an interdisciplinary and experimental research project about coliving for students and particularly focuses on the social aspects and new practices of living together. We conclude that a small homelike environment has great potential to create the social belonging young people need as well as spreading sustainable practices, but there has to be a so-cial and practical structures there from the start in order to create a resilient and safe space for living.