Cohousing in Australia and the UK – collective approaches to building, dwelling and sharing together on finite and financialised land

Friedel, B

Oxford Thesis Collection

Thesis

Cohousing in Australia and the UK – collective approaches to building, dwelling and sharing together on finite and financialised land

Abstract:: This study explores cohousing as an alternative model of multi-residential housing through cases from Australia and the UK. In advancing a heterodox form of property relations through the governance, planning, and development of cohousing communities, these cases can be contrasted to the many conventional multi-title properties that are beset with issues over sustainability, increasing costs and building defects. Yet, cohousing struggles amid increasingly financialised land and housing systems in both countries with one core barrier being the availability of suitable, affordable land for cohousing. This research initially focuses on the process by which groups acquire land, and then both the formal legal methods and informal norms used to underpin their collective governance of the land and housing. To further explore cohousing’s alterity, the research subsequently examines cohousing as it relates to two major points of mainstream thinking. Firstly, the approach to urban planning that demands ‘compactness’ and density particularly in housing. With cohousing a socio-architectural model where residents actively share space and goods, it offers a more socially and environmentally conscious compactness. The second debate discussed is the demand for increased housing supply favoured by policymakers in Australia and the UK. Cohousing, as a model where residents are actively part of deliberations over design and construction, presents as an alternative method of housing development running contrary to the dominance of for-profit builders and housing delivered at scale and pace. Overall, the cohousing cases show that multi-residential property models can reject a dependence on economic goals, in favour of social and environmental imperatives, including through alleviating the stress on finite land.

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APA Style

Friedel, B. (2025). Cohousing in Australia and the UK – collective approaches to building, dwelling and sharing together on finite and financialised land [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.

MLA Style

Friedel, B. Cohousing in Australia and the UK – Collective Approaches to Building, Dwelling and Sharing Together on Finite and Financialised Land. 2025. University of Oxford, PhD thesis.

Chicago Style

Friedel, B. 2025. “Cohousing in Australia and the UK – Collective Approaches to Building, Dwelling and Sharing Together on Finite and Financialised Land.” PhD thesis, University of Oxford.
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