On Monday August 12th I started the COST Training School for Platform Design and the Caring Economy in Aarhus, Denmark. As part of this program, we travelled to a cohousing community outside the city of Aarhus, so we could see the ‘caring economy’ in action. This cohousing community was called Andelssamfunded i Hjortshøj (AIH), where there are approximately 300 residents, including 100 children. The community was first established in the 1990’s with a vision to build and live sustainably, which they do to a remarkable degree. The original houses in this development were constructed using sea shells for a foundation, mud from the dig out as walls, and the structure of the house was made from an oily wood. Rain water is collected by this community and used in washing, in toilets, and for most other tasks that require a source of water. Solar panels can be seen on the multiple common houses across the community. The community of AIH are avid farmers, and quite self-sufficient with food grown on the land lasting them year-round. There is a shelter to store food and plenty of land to grow numerous crops, as well as lots of residents that enjoy taking care of the food. They also have cows, goats, pigs and chickens, but in recent weeks all 200 of the chickens were killed by an unknown animal, despite the electric fences surrounding their land and mobile enclosure. On the day of our visit the pigs had been moved to the shady forest as the sun was high in the sky and the community were concerned about the pigs getting sunburned. We did get the opportunity to meet the community goats though: The community live by the philosophy that you should only do something or be part of something if you want to be, which is evident in all of the activities they undertake together. There are tens of different groups, each undertaking different tasks. Groups range from driving tractors to growing willow for basket making. Most community members are part of multiple groups, but they stress that this is only because they want to be. They make it clear that there is no ‘obligation’ to do anything in the community, even in your own common areas, but most residents enjoy getting involved in as much as they can; they live in this community because they enjoy the sociability of the lifestyle. Each housing block has a different way of doing things, different ownership models, frequency of communal meals and various ‘unwritten rules’. In terms of communal meals, residents decide when they want to eat together, and there is a calendar or book in the common houses used to organise this. In the particular housing group we were touring with, the residents (30-40 people) eat together twice a week. AIH also includes a block for residents of a local ‘institution’ for those with disabilities. The people that live in AIH from the institution are considered to be ‘too abled’ for live-in institutions, and others are ‘too disabled’ for regular public schools (etc.) but they are capable of living in this community with the assistance of neighbours and occasional visits from employees of the institution. There is also a local shop on site which was deemed necessary by the institution as some of the residents from the institution often found tasks such as taking the bus to go shopping to be difficult, so they opened a shop with a bakery on the premises. The shop is run on a voluntary basis and is open for a couple of hours four days a week, stocking a wide range of products. There is also a clothes repair shop and bike repair shop in the community. The community use an online mailing system to coordinate and share information across housing groups and task groups. The responsibilities of each member are self-selected, which goes back to their philosophy that you should only do what you want to do in the community. When they first began this endeavour their vision was that members would work 20 hours per week outside of the community in their regular jobs, and then work another 20 hours work per week within the community, however this was ultimately not feasible. The community is mixed in terms of their employment status; full time, part time, retirees, children and those from the institution. There is no shared salary or financial connection between community members, apart from the annual contribution given at the AGM. There is financial inequality within the community, but we were told that this doesn't affect community life.
Overall it was quite inspiring to visit such a vibrant and successful community. This community embodies the concept of the caring economy, and I think there are many lessons to be learned from AIH. From their efforts to live sustainably, to their community spirit and philosophy of life, they are a unique community that Ireland - and others - could learn so much from.
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AuthorI graduated with a Masters in Research from the University of Limerick. My topic of research is cohousing. This blog documents my research and any news articles related to collaborative housing. Archives
August 2019
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