Cooperative Housing in Germany
During one of our site visits at a development precinct in Orestad, the southern suburbs of Copenhagen, I had a conversation with two German colleagues who were involved in cooperative housing. The conversation included a discussion about sustainable development. There is apparently a public discussion in Germany along the following lines. Individuals interested in constructing buildings that are sustainable recognise that the more sustainable they are, the lower the ongoing costs will be, especially in relation to energy usage. Components of buildings that increase sustainability are costly and builders either do not provide them or substantially increase the price of construction. Individuals are gathering as cooperative groups and funding and building their own residences themselves.
I am looking forward to exploring the models used in Germany to better understand the details of how this is done.
