Mapping social innovation and collaboration in housing – Co-Lab Mapping

The "Mapping social innovation and collaboration in housing – Co-Lab Mapping" project is an initiative developed by TU Delft in partnership with Urbamonde and the Dutch architecture firm Inbo. The project aims to address the fragmented nature of existing research on collaborative housing, which has primarily relied on qualitative case studies. The lack of standardized definitions and scattered data among various umbrella organizations hinders a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities present in collaborative housing.

The Co-Lab Mapping Project seeks to provide a validated categorization of different collaborative housing forms in Europe, building upon the conceptual framework proposed by Lang, Carriou & Czischke in 2020. By aggregating data from national umbrella organizations according to pre-established filters, the project aims to create a foundation for comparing and analyzing key characteristics of collaborative housing. This effort is essential to facilitate mutual learning and communication among users across diverse countries and regions.

The project focuses on nine European countries where collaborative housing is well-established and represented by national umbrella organizations: Belgium, Denmark, England and Wales, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. These countries provide a rich context for examining various forms of collaborative housing and their respective regulatory environments.

The research employs an iterative data collection approach that includes interviews with key informants, literature reviews, and a Delphi-panel consisting of insights from both academic and practitioner experts in the selected countries. Additionally, the project incorporates the review of several national databases and conducts validation workshops with research partners to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the data collected.

The Co-Lab Mapping Project received funding through the Creative Industry – KIEM programme, which is designed to encourage and facilitate fundamental and industrial research. Prior to this, the project was supported by the Delft Technology Fellowship, granted to Dr. Czischke in 2014, which provided resources from January 2018 to December 2019.

For more detailed insights and to access the data gathered through this project, you can visit the official project website at Co-Lab Mapping. This resource is aimed at providing valuable information for stakeholders and researchers interested in sustainable housing and collaborative living solutions across Europe.