Neighbourhood Sharing: On the prospects of an alternative housing model

This thesis begins with the observation that, over the last few decades, the housing sector in Europe has shown only very modest reductions in energy demand and contributes significantly to other environmental problems, such as waste, soil sealing, and biodiversity loss. This is attributed to escalatory trends, most importantly an increase in average living space per person, which counteract technical improvements. Neighbourhood sharing is then suggested as one potential avenue for making housing more sufficient. Collaborative housing and developer-driven neighbourhood sharing are identified as two novel and promising organised constellations of neighbourhood sharing. I argue that there has been surprisingly little research on the lived experiences with neighbourhood sharing, which are ultimately decisive for its potential to be mainstreamed. This thesis aims to address this lacuna. Guided by the overarching research question: “Does everyday sharing, enabled by the settings of collaborative housing and developer-driven neighbourhood sharing, hold the potential of becoming an established pattern in housing?” it presents evidence from two French and German cases of collaborative housing and one German case of developer-driven neighbourhood sharing. Theoretically, the study is grounded in thinking from Social Practice Theory, which essentially understands social change as a result from the making, re-arranging and breaking of links between collectively shared practice elements, as well as from evolving nexus-relationships between practices, ordered across time and space. This positioning is elaborated in a theory-oriented paper on the diverging dynamics of collaborative consumption practices, illustrated by the examples of co-housing and peer-to-peer accommodation. Empirically, the work primarily draws on a combined analysis of data from two-week diary records provided by residents and interview data from the same individuals. A comparison between the two German cases reveals that study participants in the collaborative housing case share more frequently, regularly, and extensively than their counterparts in the developer-driven case. They also engage in a wider range of sharing practices, including those that involve greater coordinative efforts and the co-presence of several people. This is explained by two factors: first, a better fit of available practice elements, which has enabled the evolution of more meaningful practice configurations; and second, a better integration of sharing practices into residents' typical life patterns. In a second empirical endeavour, drawing on data from all three neighbourhoods, I identify two important families of sharing practices that are popular across all three cases, which indicates the highest potential for normalisation. These are: community-oriented sharing practices, held together by the idea of creating, maintaining and experiencing social ties with neighbours; and convenience-oriented practices, which are characterised by a desire of getting day-to-day tasks done smoothly and efficiently. In line with the strong use-orientation of sustainability sciences, the thesis presents ideas on how housing actors, most importantly housing companies, may support the establishment of these families of sharing practices by distinctive infrastructural arrangements. Thus, convenience-oriented sharing practices may be promoted by infrastructures and associated services that optimise the availability of shared facilities and minimise temporal stretches and consumption work involved in practice performances. Community-oriented sharing practices may benefit from infrastructural arrangements that enable chance encounters, privilege community spaces over private areas, and create welcoming spatial atmospheres. Overall, this thesis shows that sharing — notably convenience-oriented and community-oriented sharing practices— has a strong potential to become normalised, particularly if housing actors proactively support it through suitable infrastructures. This can be regarded as an encouraging result for those in the realms of politics, businesses, civic organisations and research who strive to make housing more sufficient.