WP 4 | CASE STUDY Report: Co- Operative Housing
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WP 4 | CASE STUDY Report: Co- operative Housing Theme [ssh.2013.3.2-1][Social Innovation- Empowering People, changing societies] Project Full Title: “Transformative Social Innovation Theory project” Grant Agreement n. 613169 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 613169 Transit – Grant agreement n. 613169 –[Report name] 1 Suggested citation: Picabea, F., Kunze, I., Bidinost, A., Phillip, A. and Becerra, L (coord.) (2015) Case Study Report: Co- operative Housing. TRANSIT: EU SSH.2013.3.2-1 Grant agreement no: 613169. Acknowledgements: We would like to thank interviewees of International Co-operative Alliance and El Hogar Obrero, especially the inhabitants of Paso del Rey complex. We would like to thank the interviewees and numerous inhabitants of Vauban, we had the chance to talk to, especially the Quartiersarbeit for extensive information and interviews as well as Elke Fein for their valuable comments and suggestions. We also want to thank to Josefina Moreira y Rodrigo Rios (UNQ fellowships) for they help in the traduction of the document and visual aids. Date: October 15th, 2016 Authors: Facundo Picabea (UNQ), Iris Kunze (BOKU), Agustín Bidinost (UNQ) and Andera Phillip (BOKU). Coordination and final review by Lucas Becerra (UNQ). Lead partner: UNQ Participating partners: BOKU Contact person: Lucas Becerra UNQ E-mail: [email protected] Disclaimer: “The content of this publication does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed therein lies entirely with the author(s).” Transit – Grant agreement n. 613169 –[Report name] 2 Table of contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 5 Case demarcation ............................................................................................................................ 6 Overview and structure of the report ..................................................................................... 8 2 Methodology ................................................................................................ 8 Researcher relations to the case................................................................................................ 8 Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 10 3 Transnational network(ing): CHI/ICA ............................................. 16 Emergence of International Co-operative Alliance – Cooperativa de las Américas16 TSI dynamics of the transnational network(ing) ............................................................. 24 Agency in (T)SI .............................................................................................................................. 27 Summary, synthesis, conclusion ............................................................................................. 34 4 Local Initiative #1: The Co-operative “El Hogar Obrero” (The Worker’s Home)............................................................................................ 36 4.1 Emergence of Social innovation (SI) and SI-initiative: El Hogar Obrero ... 36 TSI dynamics of Hogar Obrero in social context .............................................................. 45 Agency in (T)SI of Hogar Obrero case .................................................................................. 47 Summary, synthesis, conclusion ............................................................................................. 54 5 Local Initiative #2: The eco-district of Vauban and the co-housing project GENOVA ............................................................................................ 56 5.1 Introduction to Vauban in Freiburg ............................................................................... 56 5.2 Emergence of Social Innovation in Vauban ................................................................ 67 5.3 TSI dynamics in Vauban ..................................................................................................... 73 5.4 Agency in Vauban .................................................................................................................. 82 5.5 Summary, synthesis, conclusion for Vauban .............................................................. 93 6 Synthesis .................................................................................................... 96 7 References ................................................................................................. 99 8 Annex ........................................................................................................ 101 B. List of interviews ................................................................................................................... 102 C. List of meetings and events attended .................................................................... 103 D. Other Information ......................................................................................................... 104 Transit – Grant agreement n. 613169 –[Report name] 3 Abbreviation Labels & Keywords Baugruppe Organized group of private housing builders/ owners or of a cooperative CHI Co-operative Housing International DE Deutsch/ German EN English EHO El Hogar Obrero GRAG Vauban city council working group ICA International Co-operative Alliance ICA-America Cooperative of Americas RQ research questions SE social entrepreneurship SI social innovation SUSI Studenten Siedlung (student settlement, Initiative inside Vauban TSI Transformative Social Innovation VB Vauban – district of ecological housing in Freiburg, Germany Transit – Grant agreement n. 613169 –[Report name] 4 1 Introduction The co-housing movement, in terms of its international networks and regional, national and local institutions represents a clear initiative of social innovation; both for its history and its present. Maybe, the co-housing movement is the oldest and more spread case of the empirical research made for Batch I and Batch II. In this sense, this case is interesting for TRANSIT Project due to enable analyses of TSI in terms of a long-term and scaled-up processes. In other words, the spatial and temporal framework can be enhanced, and also the revision of the concept of TSI (applied to co- housing) could be analyse not only in terms of “recently-developed practices” but also as long-term big-scales re-settlement and adjustment of practices in reaction with: i) changes in the context, ii) emergence of new narratives, iii) and changes inside of the TSI-initiative. The cooperative history (as a larger movement than co-housing) goes back more than 150 years since its inception and represents the values of cooperation, formalized throughout history in 7 principles that showing its innovative and transformative potential of society: 1- Voluntary and Open Membership, 2- Democratic control of the members, 3- Member Economic Participation, 4- Autonomy and independence, 5- Education, training and information, 6- Cooperation among cooperatives, 7- Commitment to community. The co-operative housing movement has a long history too. The first independent housing co- operatives were formed in the mid-19th century, when Viktor Aimé Huber initiated the construction of several dwellings in Berlin. Many co-operatives which are over 100 years old still exist today and are increasingly widespread in Europe and beyond. In some countries, co-operative housing has been historically, and still remains, as an important part of the housing market. For example, housing co-operatives manage over 2,5 million dwellings in Poland, approximately 20% of the total housing stock in the country, 17% in the Czech Republic and Sweden and 15% in Norway. Adding Argentina and Uruguay (in Latin America), there are nearly 2,000 housing cooperatives (for almost 500.000 people), and housing co-operatives were founded in 1905, over 100 years ago. In many others, such as Canada and the United Kingdom the co-operative housing sector is relatively small but is an exemplar of the benefits which flow from resident-member control of housing and the neighbourhood. On average, 10% of Europeans live in co-operative housing. They show that living in a co-operative housing provides many advantages in terms of economic, social and environmental sustainability. In this report, three in-depth empirical studies about co-operative housing movement were performed trying to catch a wide-range of phenomena. Transit – Grant agreement n. 613169 –[Report name] 5 Case demarcation The first case is the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) focusing in the Co-operative Housing International (CHI) (a whole co-operative ecosystem inside the ICA). CHI counts with 65 countries members (October, 2015), which are more or less active in the networking activities at a global level. CHI is the most representative international network of the co-housing movement in terms of: number of members, history, national associated involved and global influence in policy making. In terms of the temporal framework the case is analyzed for the period 2000-2015. Figure 1: Co-operative Housing International Worldwide In relation with local manifestations, this report includes the description and analysis of two co- operative Housing phenomena: one located in Germany (the building-up of a the City