In September and October 2021, Project Together! hosted a wide-ranging programme of talks, workshops and activities for citizens, professionals and scholars. After the programme of 2021, the project continued with research and publications, culminating in the book Together: Towards Collaborative Housing.
Project Together! has started the debate about the way we want to live together in the 21st century – in our homes and in our neighborhoods. Together! is about collaboration and collectivity.
Darinka Czischke, Marije Peute & Sara Brysch
design by Maud van Rossum
Together: Towards Collaborative Living
Collective living is on the rise in the Netherlands. Amid an unprecedented housing crisis, more and more people are turning to collective self-organization to provide community-oriented, sustainable and affordable housing. But why are these initiatives struggling to get off the ground? And what can we learn from other European countries?
“Together: Towards Collaborative Living” is a collection of essays, data and case studies in the Netherlands and other European countries, building on the 2021 Project Together! Knowledge. The book addresses the following questions: what is the relevance of collective living, how can we realize these forms of housing, and who can use what actions to ensure that collective living can contribute to more sustainable cities and regions? The book illustrates the dilemmas and opportunities for a new paradigm about living together in the 21st century.
For the hard copy or e-book versions in English or Dutch, please follow this link.
Rethinking living environments through collaboration
Concepts and tools for shared futures
The politics and policies of collaborative habitats
Challenges and opportunities
In the Netherlands, 1 million new homes are needed by 2030. Of these 1 million homes, 100.000 homes must be realized in the province of South Holland before 2025. The majority of these will have to be built in cities. This is not only a quantitative task, but urban living in the 21st century is also accompanied by major challenges in areas such as affordability, sustainability, quality of life, inclusiveness and life course stability. To fulfill this task, cooperation between businesses, government, knowledge institutes and citizens is needed: we can do this together!
Impact
Educational: by having had a diverse audience visiting Delft and to come into contact with the themes that the exhibition highlights, from scientists to professionals to citizens.
Societal: by strengthening the profile of Delft as a city that sets the tone in innovative approaches and connects architecture with important societal developments (aging and health care; social inclusiveness; the transition to sustainability; vibrant urban communities; etc.).
Political: by developing a manifesto with concrete action points to increase the commitment of politicians and the minister.
Economic: by creating new partnerships and alliances for the innovative production of housing and by demonstrating the involvement of Dutch businesses in important social developments.
Programme 2021
The programme of September and October 2021 was structured in three main themes:
Theme 1: “Why?” set the scene for the discussion, which focused on the societal drivers and motivations that lead to the development of collaborative housing initiatives. It included a research seminar, where scholars from all over the world discussed these topics from a broad and interdisciplinary perspective.
Theme 2: “How?” had a more practical approach. It brought together different testimonies and experiences from the different actors involved in collaborative housing, on the area of design, financing, management, among others. Organised Master classes were attented by both national and international professionals who work with innovative collaborative housing projects.
Theme 3: “Take action!” focussed on concrete actions (policies and strategies) necessary to increase and improve the development of collaborative housing in The Netherlands. This also included a set of workshops focused on important issues related to the overarching theme such as co-design, alternative living layouts, collective self-organization, community support.
All Project Together stories, talk show and seminars can be watched on the YouTube account, or see the videos below.
Together! Seminars
Together! Stories
Community living for youth at Stichting Timon
Turkish elderly living at Orkide
collaborative elderly living at Knarrenhof
sharing eco-friendly housing in Nijmegen
Space-S in Eindhoven
Together Movement
Legacy movie
On May 13th 2022, a final debate took place and “Project Together! The Movie” was premiered. This movie illustrates the highlights of our program, as a sneak peek for the different assets we explored.
Book publication
The project group is currently in the process of combining the most important lessons learned regarding collaborative housing. These lessons will be published in a book.
Senior Project – Samen Wonen op Leeftijd
Stemming from Project Together! the project Samen Wonen op Leeftijd is a design research project that focusses on housing alternatives for elderly people in Delft. The goal is to create clear design tools to be able to design fitting collaborative housing for this demographic group.
Communities of Practice
The communities of practice are a practice learn-trajectory, built around a specific subject (eg. collaborative design). In this trajectory, learning from each other is the central focus point. Knowlegde and experience will be shared, to work together towards clear action points which can be implemented in practice. Different municipalities and professionals will be invited to host case studies and discussion groups.
NWA – ORC Research proposal
The goal of the NWA (Nationale Wetenschapsagenda) is to contribute to society in a positive and structural way by generating knowlegde. The research proposal will be able to create possibilities for research in The Netherlands. Project Together! aims to continue the research by applying to the NWA-ORC with a new research proposal.
Organising partners:
Supporting partners:
Co-Lab Research 