Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Cohousing Professionals as 'Middle-Agents'

Electronic data

  • Coho_Professionals_as_Middle_Agents_V3_FInal

    Rights statement: © Arrigoitia et al., 2019. The definitive, peer reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Built Environment, 45, 3, 346-363, 2019, 10.2148/benv.45.3.346

    Accepted author manuscript, 454 KB, PDF document

    Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

Cohousing Professionals as 'Middle-Agents': Perspectives from the UK, USA and the Netherlands

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/09/2019
<mark>Journal</mark>Built Environment
Issue number3
Volume45
Number of pages18
Pages (from-to)346-363
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

This article explores the role of cohousing professionals in three countries (the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States) where the relevance of this form of collaborative dwelling has grown. Cohousing initiators everywhere have to hire technical consultants such as financial and legal advisers and traditional project managers. These 'experts' or 'professionals' may, however, be insufficiently equipped to deal with the development particularities of cohousing which require the ability to move between, and translate, knowledge of different kinds. In response to this, a new type of cohousing specialist such as group-facilitators, process-management and legal coop-specialists is emerging, but the specificity and implications of their roles has gone largely unstudied. Drawing on interviews and fieldwork across the three countries, we explore the roles and dynamics, as well as the paradoxes faced by this varied professional sector. We argue that professionals are 'middle agents' who must negotiate their way between niche and mainstream housing landscapes, and that cohousing professionalization is taking place in a way that can potentially transform both grassroots and mainstream housing provision. Based on this, the conclusions recommend a shift in higher education and specialist training.

Bibliographic note

© Arrigoitia et al., 2019. The definitive, peer reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Built Environment, 45, 3, 346-363, 2019, 10.2148/benv.45.3.346