konvisionär is a self-managed housing project in Heidelberg, Germany, created to provide affordable homes that meet ecological standards and are protected from property speculation. Its four guiding principles are ecological and communal living, solidarity and self-management. 1
The project was developed by konvisionär – Verein für ökologisches Leben in Gemeinschaft e.V., an association formed around the initiative to convert a former US barracks building in Heidelberg’s Mark Twain Village into a shared residential and project house.9 The initiative was publicly active by 2014, and residents began living in the project in 2019. 91 The available sources identify the association, rather than an individual, as the project’s developer.
Today, the community comprises more than 80 people aged from 1 to 72, including single people, couples, families and shared households. 1 The project’s special ownership structure is intended to keep the building permanently unsellable and outside the speculative property market, while enabling people across income groups to live there. 1 Heidelberg’s city website classifies konvisionär as a self-managed housing project with a “Sicherungsverein” structure. 2
The project’s activities extend beyond housing. A city profile describes shared decision-making and resident involvement in setting rents and developing ideas for the buildings and community; it also lists a food cooperative, a free bicycle workshop and a free shop. 6 The project is located in the Südstadt, where it shares an area with other community housing projects.7