Flexible Living & Mixed-Tenure Models

In October 2024, a survey across the Balearic Islands found that 77 per cent of residents believe tourism is driving up local housing costs, mirroring pressures in cities like Catania, where 22,890 tourist beds are now listed on Airbnb. Flexible living and mixed-tenure models restructure how residential space is allocated to absorb transient populations without displacing permanent residents. Instead of dividing a city strictly into hotels for tourists and standard 12-month leases for locals, these models blend temporary, mid-term and permanent housing within single buildings or cooperative networks. By offering mid-term serviced stays or cooperative exchanges for members undergoing life transitions like study or secondment, these structures fill the gap between nightly rentals and long-term tenancies. This mechanism shifts the financial return from speculative short-term platforms to community-managed or purpose-built assets, protecting local housing stock while maintaining mobility for those moving between European cities.

Across Europe, developers and municipalities are testing different responses to shifting accommodation needs. While some local authorities adjust regulations—such as the Nice city council voting in June 2026 to increase the primary residence short-term rental limit from 90 to 120 days—others are physically adapting the built environment. In Madrid, the developer Argis launched a €250 million fund in February 2025 to convert the former Johnson & Johnson headquarters into a complex of over 250 flexible-living units. Similar adaptive reuse is being pursued by the Hamburg-based architecture collective vonwegenleer, which converts vacant office spaces into temporary residential units. Meanwhile, purpose-built cooperatives are integrating diverse residents from the outset. In Vienna, the Die HausWirtschaft project opened in September 2023 to house approximately 250 people in a radically mixed-use environment, while the MasCobado development in Montpellier splits its 23 homes across open-market purchase, assisted ownership and social rental. These approaches demonstrate a shift from single-use blocks to blended environments that accommodate varying lengths of stay and financial capacities.

The collection below gathers research on short-term rental market impacts alongside the projects, organisations and events developing alternative accommodation structures. Readers can use these case studies, policy reviews and architectural profiles to understand how cross-cooperative platforms, office-to-residential conversions and mixed-tenure developments are being implemented across European municipalities.