First announcement SC L.Tummers_v 2

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
LA “LE STUDIUM® CONFERENCE” TOURS SPRING 2012
Self-managed Co-HOUSING: born out of need or new ways of life?
12th – 13th March, 2012
Tours, France
Organized by:
Lidewij Tummers, Université Technique de Delft, en résidence au laboratoire
Urbaniste, Cités, TERritoires, Environnement et Sociétés - Maison des Sciences de l’Homme
(Université François-Rabelais de Tours)
Professor Sylvette Denèfle, Laboratoire CItés TERritoires, Environnement et
Sociétés – Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (Université François-Rabelais de Tours)
This “LE STUDIUM® CONFERENCE” aims to look at co-housing initiatives in the perspective of
sustainable spatial development. Its purpose is both to take stock of ongoing research and
practices, as well as to set a research agenda and establish future collaborations.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CONFERENCE:
In the 21st century, self-organized co-housing is re-appearing in many European countries, in new
forms and larger numbers. Cohousing, cooperatives de logement, Genossenschaften or
Samenhuizen are types of collaborative housing in which residents actively participate in the
design and operation of their own neighbourhoods.
Co-housing is sometimes called ‘intentional communities’: Cohousing residents are consciously
committed to living as a community [http://www.cohousing.org/]. The physical design encourages
both social contact and individual space. Intentional communities can be identified by a deliberate
attempt to realize a common, alternative way of life outside mainstream society.
[Poldervaart 2002]
Le STUDIUM ®
Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies
3D, avenue de la recherche scientifique, F 45071 – Orléans Cedex 2
Tél. :33 (0)2 38 25 56 37 - e.mail : [email protected]
http://leSTUDIUM.cnrs-orleans.fr
LE STUDIUM® CONFERENCE – 12th – 13th March, 2012
On the one hand, co-housing initiatives are emerging out of demographic trends and changing
lifestyles. Family-ties for example are loosening and relatives spread over larger distances. New
types of communities are searched for, such as senior citizens or people with special needs,
preferring to self-manage their health and care-services to being institutionalized. But also young
households of diverse composition initiate co-housing solutions not only to gain access to a
stagnating housing market, but also more efficiency in the ‘organization of family-life’ [kläser
2009]. In practice, the organization of the everyday is central to both the creation as well as the
dissolution of housing collectives.
Out of this social logic, co-housing is emerging as a re-newed housing typology that raises many
expectations for creating better social networks and healthy environments. The incentive and
planning context for this trend varies from one country to another, but the intentions of
inhabitants are very similar internationally. These new co-housings are following an historical
practice of mutual help and shared work for housing like the post-war network ‘Les Castors’ or
later programs such as ‘Habitat different Angers’, in the western part of France or the
‘Genossenschaften’ in Germany between the world wars [Novy 1983]. Already in the 19th and
early 20th century, different architectural models for the collectivization of domestic labour have
been developed, for example by Les Utopistes in France, The community Land Trusts in UK or the
Shakers in the USA [Hayden 1979, Poldervaart 2001].
On the other hand, the new co-housing initiatives put the accent strongly on ecological
perspectives and shared services. Many intentional communities are created as an alternative to
the demanding as well as wasteful performance economy. Often, dwellers initiatives invest much
time in finding ways to implement sustainable building materials, to save energy and water, apply
renewable energy sources and other technical innovations such as domotics. Clustered housing
and self-management, for example in central heating installations, potentially make such
technologies more feasible. Mixed uses to reduce travel time and car-dependency or sharing of
basic services lead to architectural models which re-define the private- and public domains.
Co-housing is a model of action, actively taking the housing and environment situation in one’s
own hand to create accommodation that the (housing) market does not provide. While they still
constitute a small percentage of the housing stock, the impact of self-organized co-housing
projects goes beyond the square meters of the building plot and exists in the quality of their urban
environments as well as the social networks. As such the initiatives correspond to what in many
European cities is the objective of urban policy: social cohesion, care for an aging population, local
identities under globalization, energy transition, in short: the three cornerstones of sustainable
development. The European countries where the increasing trend is mostly noticeable are UK,
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France [Van Herk/De Meulder 2009; Fedrovitz/Gailing
2009; Lejeune 2009].
However, co-housing as a form of active citizenship also challenges the role of both the market as
well as the state in providing housing and creating living environments. It demands different
attitudes and skills of architects and other professionals involved. Building regulations and urban
management are not yet adapted to the shift of public-private boundaries. Collective or
Le STUDIUM ®
Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies
3D, avenue de la recherche scientifique, F 45071 – Orléans Cedex 2
Tél. :33 (0)2 38 25 56 37 - e.mail : [email protected]
http://leSTUDIUM.cnrs-orleans.fr
LE STUDIUM® CONFERENCE – 12th – 13th March, 2012
cooperative management of housing beyond the construction phase is still regarded as
experimental, despite decades of successful projects.
This conference invites researchers, residents and professionals to look at the future of co-housing
along 4 specific fields of inquiry.
SESSION 1 – CO-HOUSING PROJECTS: PILOTS OF ECO-ENGINEERING?
In order to classify the architectural aspects, building components and energy flows, and the
quality of urban space, sociological categories do not give sufficient criteria. Essential for analyses
from an architectural perspective is the characteristic of co-housing as a community where the
social/organizational and spatial units overlap. A majority of the co-housing initiatives can be
considered at the forefront of the transition from fossil- to renewable energies, self-sufficiency,
and smart grids. Analyses from an engineering perspective should generate quantitative evidence
if their performance is de facto better than average housing. Clustered housing in itself provides
opportunities for de-centralized energy-networks. Co-housing adds to this the dimension of selfmanagement including direct decision-making, sharing of benefits by inhabitants and clever design
solutions for high density. Shared investment and self-management potentially make such
technologies more feasible.
SESSION 2 – EMERGING LIFESTYLES, NEW COMMUNITIES?
There exist different types of classifications of co-housing from a sociological point of view:
according to ideology, degree of involvement, distance to society and so on. Co-housing is
different from individual self-built housing. In building together (collectively), residents can
achieve more than each household apart. How is the aspect of ‘collectivity’ expressed in spatial
layout? Co-housing is also different from gated communities in that it reaches out to the
environment, with café/theater/function rooms, children’s room and playground, community
garden, education and service-sharing, and so on. What does this contribute to the qualities of
urban environments? Do social networks expand beyond the project into neighbourhoods?
The population of co-housing initiatives of the 21st century fits in the type of jobs (consultancy,
creative) that is at the forefront of the flexibilization of the labour market. For self-employed
people, especially in artisanal and service sector such as sewing, childminding and catering,
affordable, small-scale workspaces are hard to find in larger towns. There for many co-housing
proposals include a form of mixed use with studio’s, workshops and services such as childcare- or
meeting rooms. Can intentional communities also be interpreted as an attempt to balance job and
home-responsibilities, and counter the precarious conditions of self-employment?
SESSION 3 – SMALL-SCALE SOLUTION FOR A MINORITY, OR A POTENTIAL TRANSFORMATION OF
HOUSING PROVISION?
After two centuries varying forms of collective housing are in number still a marginal
phenomenon. Yet it is not only because of its small numbers that Co-housing does not appear in
statistics. The absence of suitable categories also makes this type of housing invisible. For
example: only rental and owner-occupancy options exist, not collective property; or choices like
Le STUDIUM ®
Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies
3D, avenue de la recherche scientifique, F 45071 – Orléans Cedex 2
Tél. :33 (0)2 38 25 56 37 - e.mail : [email protected]
http://leSTUDIUM.cnrs-orleans.fr
LE STUDIUM® CONFERENCE – 12th – 13th March, 2012
‘garden: private/none’ whereas the majority of co-housing benefits from collective outdoor space.
This invisibility partly prevents co-housing from becoming a credible model and equal option
besides the now standard housing-varieties: dwellers and professionals are often not aware of cohousing models or see it as problematic. The undeniable presence of co-housing needs to be
derived from other sources such as the rise of information websites and publication of
anthologies, documentaries, or guides and manuals for private (non-professional) clients and
collectives.
The lack of insight in the substance, and more importantly in the development, of this trend makes
it difficult to understand in which direction co-housing is moving ‘still halfway between utopia,
experiment innovation and social transformation’ (Lejeune 2009). Yet politicians and professionals
have high hopes of ‘the third way of housing’ (Maury 2010). How to establish to what extent cohousing represents a future model for European cities?
SESSION 4 – URBAN JAZZ-CITIZENS AND THE PLANNING SYSTEM
Residents initiatives encounter obstacles during the planning process, such as rigid definition in
zoning plans, safety regulations in building laws, a lack of understanding of planning departments,
or support of investors and real estate managers. While in the 21st century participation of
occupants in the realization of their housing is increasingly promoted, the role of residents is still
mostly perceived as ‘client’ and the expertise of dwellers is underestimated. This raises the
question how planning systems can be made more accessible for self-organized building groups
with specific (co-) habitation needs. Examples can be found at municipal level, for example:
Almere (NL) which re-oriented its planning procedures entirely for self-initiated housing;
Strassbourg (Fr) adapted the framework of urban regulations for assigned plots, the German
federal government implements a program for ‘intergenerational living’ by facilitating the
planning process.
Invited speakers:
Helen Jarvis, Newcastle University
Adri Duivesteijn, Alderman spatial development Almere
co-housing researchers, inhabitants, networks, professionals, architects and social agents from
different countries.
A Round Table with international participants will discuss what can be done to enhance Cohousing initiatives through local planning and urban policies.
Practical Information
Dates of conference: 12th -13th March, 2012
Venue: Tours (France)
Language: English
Le STUDIUM ®
Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies
3D, avenue de la recherche scientifique, F 45071 – Orléans Cedex 2
Tél. :33 (0)2 38 25 56 37 - e.mail : [email protected]
http://leSTUDIUM.cnrs-orleans.fr
LE STUDIUM® CONFERENCE – 12th – 13th March, 2012
Call for papers
We welcome contributions for each of these tracks from all disciplines. To be presented on this
conference, papers need to be based on empirical research on self-managed co-housing and
discuss at least 1 case-study.
Abstract/proposal for paper submission before 15 Dec 2011
Send a .pdf IN ENGLISH with name, affiliation, discipline, address, a short biography, a
photography of the researcher and max. 400 words about your proposal to:
[email protected]
Please mention the session you prefer to be presenting in, if you are selected.
15 January 2011 Notification of acceptance
1 March 2012 Full paper submission
Papers will be published in digital proceedings
Poster presentations
The poster presentation on Tuesday morning is open to every participant and allows them to show
their housing or research project to the others. Please submit your poster in A1 format before Feb
15th 2012 to be included in the exposition. To book the space needed, please advise Mme Scherer
before February 15th 2012 (by using the registration form on the LE STUDIUM® website).
Fees
Registration Fees
Senior scientist
Young scientist
(PhD, Postdoc…)
100,00 €
30,00 €
50,00 €
30,00 €
10,00 €
25,00 €
(Conference attendance, LE
STUDIUM® LECTURE, Cocktails,
Meals, coffee breaks, …)
Dinner
CD
Le STUDIUM ®
Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies
3D, avenue de la recherche scientifique, F 45071 – Orléans Cedex 2
Tél. :33 (0)2 38 25 56 37 - e.mail : [email protected]
http://leSTUDIUM.cnrs-orleans.fr
LE STUDIUM® CONFERENCE – 12th – 13th March, 2012
Important Dates
14/12/2011
15/01/2012
28/02/2012
11/03/2012
12/03/2012
13/03/2012
Abstract submission deadline
Notification of abstract acceptance
Registration payment deadline
Start of Conference: Ice Breaker Party
Conference begins
Conference ends
Contact and registration
Michèle Scherer, Operations manager, [email protected] – + 33 (0)2 38 25 56 37
Registration will be open from mid-January 2012. Please consult the website of LE STUDIUM®
http://Lestudium.cnrs-orleans.fr for details and registration forms.
Scientific Committee
Lidewij Tummers, Université Technique de Delft, en résidence au laboratoire Urbaniste, Cités, TERritoires,
Environnement et Sociétés à la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (Université François-Rabelais de Tours)
Prof Sylvette Denèfle, MSH Tours
Prof Ezio Manzini, Politecnico di Milano
Prof Vincent Nadin, TU Delft
Prof. Yves Cabannes, University College London
Dr. Veronique Biau, CRH-UMR LAVUE n°7218 CNRS
Christiane Droste, Urbanplus Berlin
Organizing Committee
Janick Brabant, LE STUDIUM®
Michèle Scherer, LE STUDIUM®
Isabelle Ziegeldorf, LE STUDIUM®
Marie-Frédérique Pellerin-Hélène, LE STUDIUM®
Emilie Rolleau, LE STUDIUM®
Marie-Hélène Lagrange, MSH Tours
Le STUDIUM ®
Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies
3D, avenue de la recherche scientifique, F 45071 – Orléans Cedex 2
Tél. :33 (0)2 38 25 56 37 - e.mail : [email protected]
http://leSTUDIUM.cnrs-orleans.fr
LE STUDIUM® CONFERENCE – 12th – 13th March, 2012
Elsa Coslado, MSH Tours
Seminar ‘Urbanisme participatif’
The conference will be followed 14 March 2012 by AlterProp (http://alter-prop.crevilles-dev.org/)
seminar ‘Urbanisme participatif: co-housing et eco-quartiers’. This French-speaking seminar is
open to conference participants and takes place in Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Tours.
Le STUDIUM ®
Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies
3D, avenue de la recherche scientifique, F 45071 – Orléans Cedex 2
Tél. :33 (0)2 38 25 56 37 - e.mail : [email protected]
http://leSTUDIUM.cnrs-orleans.fr
LE STUDIUM® CONFERENCE – 12th – 13th March, 2012