To learn more and better about an emerging housing model such as cooperative housing in the cession of use or cohousing, which has taken root strongly in the city in recent years, the Barcelona City Council organizes a guided tour of the exhibition that hosts the headquarters of the Ateneu Cooperatiu de Barcelona (Coòpolis), in C. Constitució, 19, Block 8. The visit will take place next Tuesday, February 28, starting at 18 hours, and is commissioned by the architects’ cooperative Lacol and the Barcelona City Council. All those who wish to attend must register in advance, free of charge, through this link.
“Living in community in housing cooperatives of transfer of use in Barcelona” is the name that heads this exhibition, which since mid-December can be visited at the headquarters of Coòpolis from Monday to Friday from 9h to 19h. An opportunity to learn about a housing model that has spread in the city with about twenty projects, distributed in different districts, which include more than 400 homes created with this format.
The particularities of the model and the projects hosted by the city will be some of the highlights that will be explained by one of the architects of the project and a member of La Borda, one of the housing cooperatives of reference in the city and that in 2022 was recognized with the Mies van der Rohe Emerging Architecture Award granted by the European Union.
Housing to build community
Compared to more classic and standard housing models, cohousing is committed to community living, with housing that helps to combat loneliness and individualism. A collective way of living and sharing the same living space which, among other advantages, guarantees access to decent and affordable housing, maintains public ownership of the land, prevents housing speculation, and favors stability over time for users.
The characteristics of this model require the self-organization of the people who make up the cooperatives, undoubtedly one of the most enhanced values. A model that, after all, conceives housing as good for use, and not as good to speculate and profit from. So much so that members can use their housing for 75 years, extendable to 90, and it is the cooperative that builds/rehabilitates and manages the housing. At the end of this period, the property becomes municipal property.