Sharing Communities: An Alternative Post-Pandemic Residential Logic

Abstract

Sweden needs affordable housing solutions to counteract segregation and isolation whilst promoting resilient cities. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the conditions for being and sharing with others. The aim of the article is to explore residents practices of inhabiting, sharing and being involved in existing collaborative housing during the pandemic. The article conceptualizes collaborative housing from a systems thinking perspective to shed light on how the purpose, elements and interconnections within this socio-spatial system affect each other. This is done through a qualitative case study with a transdisciplinary approach. The article discusses representations of space, residents appropriation of common spaces as well as their spatial practices as coping responses to the pandemic in their everyday lives. Residents have appropriated common spaces for socializing whilst keeping physical distance. Their lived experience shows that the availability of common spaces, common practices and being a functioning community have been essential to counteract isolation and increase mutual support. The current pandemic has highlighted the urgency of linking affordable housing to resilient cities and rethinking of collaborative housing as an alternative post-pandemic residential logic. The article argues that collaborative housing creates a space for the emergence of sharing communities based on social ties, social practices of inhabiting, sharing and being involved in everyday life. Future research is needed focusing on living in sharing communities, especially during times of crisis.