NSL – Netzwerk Stadt und Landschaft ETH Zürich
  • Projects
      • Projects of the Chairs
        • Prof. Dr. Bryan T. Adey | Infrastructure Management
        • Prof. Dr. Tom Avermaete | History and Theory of Urban Design
        • Prof. Dr. Kay W. Axhausen | Traffic and Transport Planning
        • Prof. Dr. Francesco Corman | Transport Systems
        • Prof. Dr. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey | Planning of Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS)
        • Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann | Spatial Development and Urban Policy
        • Prof. Hubert Klumpner | Architecture and Urban Design
        • Dr. Anastasios Kouvelas | Traffic Engineering and Control
        • Prof. Dr. Christian Schmid | Sociology
        • Prof. Milica Topalovic | Architecture and Territorial Planning
        • EiR PD Dr. Joris Van Wezemael | Spatial Transformation Laboratories (STL)
        • Prof. em Dr. h. c. Günther Vogt | Landscape Architecture
        • ETH Wohnforum – ETH CASE
        • NSL Archive
      • NSL Colloquia – The NSL Colloquia are a bi-annual presentation of exceptional work under a rotating theme determined by the inviting professor.
      • NSL Projects
        • Future Cities Lab Global
        • Urban Potential and Strategies in Metropolitan Territories
 – The Zurich Metropolitan Region as an Example (NFP65)
        • Landscape Visualization and Modeling Lab (LVML)
      • NSL Forum: Pandemie? Mitten im Klimawandel. Was bedeutet das für die räumliche Entwicklung der Schweiz? Ein Dialog.
      • Former Chairs
    Close
  • Teaching
    • Teaching
      • Bachelor and Master Degree Programmes, Department ARCH
      • Bachelor and Master Degree Programmes, Department BAUG
      • MSc in Spatial Development and Infrastructure Systems
      • MAS/CAS Spatial Development
      • MAS Urban and Territorial Design
      • MAS in Housing
      • Doctoral Programme in Landscape and Urban Studies
      • The teaching component of the NSL seeks to impart the knowledge and skills needed to develop the standard strengths of spatial planning and their interaction as well as the ability to develop strategies for the solution of spatial problems. These are central prerequisites for a responsible and successful exercise of planning functions in the service of the public commonwealth and of private companies. Especially important in fufilling these prerequisites is the quality of university-level education: graduate and post-graduate work as well as professional development in spatial, urban and landscape planning. The ETH Zurich has offered programmes such as continuing education courses and post-graduate programmes (NDS, now MAS) since 1965. The NSL (Network City and Landscape) is responsible for these courses and programmes.
    Close
  • Publications
    • NSL Newsletter – The NSL brings the experts at ETH Zurich together and also maintains a dialogue with other groups that deal with or are interested in issues relating to cities and landscapes.
    • Publications of NSL Chairs – A complete list of publications can be reached via the following link, which also includes advanced search capabilities:
      • ETH Zürich Research Collection
    • DISP_58/3_CoverdisP – The Planning Review – The interdisciplinary scientific journal covers the topics of spatial development, urban planning, landscape and environmental planning, landscape architecture, traffic planning, and regional and environmental economics, as well as special issues on specific themes.
      • Publishing in disP – The Planning Review
      • Publisher
      • Book Review Guidelines
      • Editorial Staff
      • Latest Issue
      • facebook
    Close
  • Current
  • Contact
      • en
        • de
        • fr
        • it
      • Search

    • Close

The Future is (the Housing) Cooperative

The future of affordable and adequate housing is one of the most urgent global challenges. UN-Habitat estimates that from 2016 until the year 2030 close to 3 billion people will have to find new shelter, which would mean to complete approximately 4000 housing units per hour. When looking for ways how to achieve such numbers in an inclusive manner, cooperative organizations and cooperative housing could offer an array of tailor-made, affordable solutions. 

Half of the World Uses Cooperative Products

Although in many parts of the world (as in Switzerland), cooperatives have been a constant part of daily lives since the beginning of the 20th century, the cooperative principle has experienced a revival in recent years. The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) estimates that, as of 2016, approximately 250 million people work and earn their income within a cooperative, and, according to the United Nations, approximately 3 billion people have been consuming products and services produced by cooperatives. Yet, while the sectors of agriculture, consumer products, banking, and insurance are the most dominant within the cooperative world, housing has played a rather marginal role.

Cooperatives as a Third Way

While most of the projected demand for housing will take place in so-called emerging and developing countries, housing production capacities mostly remain the hands of developed nations. Furthermore, directly adapted housing models deriving from developed countries and implemented by both private and state actors have often failed to deliver the needed housing stocks. Offering a ‘third way’ not only outside purely public and private sectors, but also beyond traditional ‘North-South’ relations, cooperatives could become crucial actors to provide affordable and adequate housing in the coming decades.

One Share One Vote

At its core, the cooperative model offers the legal framework to run and own an enterprise by and for its members. Through the basic principle of ‘one share one vote’, cooperatives are inherently democratic organizations where decisions are mainly driven by the needs of their members, and where profits are not individualized but reintroduced into the collectively owned cooperative. Thus, housing coops can provide two crucial aspects when dealing with affordable and adequate housing: First, they withdraw their units from the speculative real estate market, which means that construction and renting costs do not have to follow a profit motive (affordability). Second, their democratic setup allows decision-making processes that are more inclusive and closer to the particular needs of the coop members (adequacy).

Involve Research and Future Generations

In view of these themes and challenges, the chair of Prof. Marc Angélil has recently launched the research project Cooperative Production of Low-Cost Housing – Socio-Technological Innovation for the Provision of Housing for Low-Income Populations. Learning from – and critically reflecting on – cooperative housing models in the different geographical, cultural and economic contexts of Switzerland, Japan, Brazil, and Ethiopia, the investigation aims at identifying the key political, social and spatial aspects of successful housing cooperatives. Aligned with these activities, the research team will organize a panel at the upcoming conference of the International Co-operative Alliance in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (November 14-17) and invite young leaders from different continents involved in housing cooperatives to discuss their practices.

Sascha Delz holds a Doctor of Sciences and a Master degree in Architecture from ETH Zurich. He is currently a postdoc researcher at the Institute for Urban Design of ETH Zurich.

Share this...
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Email
This article has been published in the following newsletter edition:

34 | Juni 2017: Ein Blick in die Zukunft

  • Autonome Fahrzeuge auf der Überholspur?
  • Visionierung in der partizipativen Landschaftsentwicklung
  • Urban Game: Action! On the Real City
  • The Future is (the Housing) Cooperative
Kurzmeldungen
  • Landschaft in einer neuen Dimension erleben
  • «Common Water – The Future of an Alpine Resource» – NSL Kolloquium am 21. Oktober 2017
  • Theater for Informal Settlement
  • Renewable Energy Infrastructures for Switzerland
  • Filme zu guten Beispielen der Innenentwicklung
Publikationen
  • Arcadia. A Journey into the Pastoral
  • Effects of low speed limits on freeway traffic flow
  • Autonomous vehicles: Pedestrian heaven or pedestrian hell?
  • Spielräume für Dichte. Der Innenentwicklungskompass als problemorientierte Methode für Verdichtung in kleinen und mittleren Gemeinden
  • Reactivate Athens: 101 Ideas
  • Cost-based analysis of autonomous mobility services

Chairs

Prof. Dr. Bryan T. Adey
Prof. Dr. Kay W. Axhausen
Prof. Dr. Tom Avermaete
Prof. Maria Conen
Prof. Dr. Francesco Corman
Dr. Jennifer Duyne Barenstein
Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard
Prof. Dr. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey
Prof. Dr. Guillaume Habert
Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann
Prof. Hubert Klumpner
Dr. Anastasios Kouvelas
Prof. Freek Persyn
Prof. Dr. Christian Schmid
Prof. Milica Topalovic
EiR PD Dr. Joris Van Wezemael
Prof. em Dr. h. c. Günther Vogt
ETH Wohnforum – ETH CASE

Contact

Address
ETH Zürich
NSL – Netzwerk Stadt und Landschaft
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5
HIL H 44.2
8093 Zürich

NSL Director
Director: Prof. Hubert Klumpner
Deputy Director: Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann

NSL Coordination
Claudia Gebert
Telephone: +41 (0)44 633 36 33

Register for the NSL Newsletter

disP Publication Office

Editor-in-Chief
Dr. sc. techn. Martina Koll-Schretzenmayr, Spatial planner ETH/NDS,
Telephone +41 (0)44 633 29 47

Editorial Assistant
Telephone +41 (0)44 633 29 69

Mailing address
ETH Zürich
Redaktion disP
NSL – Netzwerk Stadt und Landschaft
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5
HIL H 33.2
8093 Zürich
Fax +41 (0)44 633 12 15
E-Mail

 

NSL Archive (gta)

Research and Bequest Archive for
Swiss Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning

Consultation Requests

Mailing address
ETH Zürich
NSL Archive (gta)
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5
HIL C 65.2
CH-8093 Zurich