KOWOHÄUSER Collective housing, financing and operating models for more socially and environmentally friendly single-family housing developments

Funded as part of the
Transformation cluster "Soziale Innovationen für nachhaltige Städte: Nachhaltige und klimafreundliche Gebäudebestandserneuerung und effiziente und suffiziente Flächennutzung in bestehenden Stadtquartieren und Siedlungsbereichen"

2026-2030

KOWOHÄUSER develops collective housing, financing and operating models for socio-ecological single-family house typologies. The aim is to rethink single-family house structures from an architectural, Urban Design and construction perspective in order to promote space sufficiency, communal use and socio-spatial qualities - especially with regard to older people.

The challenge: single-family home areas are land-intensive, socially segregating and often not age-appropriate. At the same time, there are considerable resources in existing suburban settlements that have so far hardly been integrated into sustainable urban development strategies.

KOWOHÄUSER is responding to this need by developing a transferable operating model for collective use and forms of ownership. Architectural-spatial, legal and economic parameters are systematically examined and integrated. The model is being tested in practice in a pilot application in a housing estate in Göttingen. The aim is to create a legally, socially and economically viable structure that enables the communal use of existing residential buildings without sacrificing individual housing needs.

The project provides concrete recommendations for action for municipalities, planning authorities and initiatives and is intended to enable scalability in the form of recommendations for action. The focus is on the transformation of existing structures instead of new construction - as a contribution to ecologically and socially sustainable space production in a suburban context.

The contribution of the University of Kassel lies above all in the development and scientific foundation of a new collective housing, operating and financing model for single-family house structures as well as in the analysis and evaluation of the solutions developed, rejected and realized in the course of the project. The sub-project provides architectural and construction expertise in the field of operations for the implementation and start-up consultancy of the model and provides ongoing scientific support for the overall project and project development, including the analysis of accompanying legal, organizational and economic instruments. In addition, the sub-project is responsible for the internal project organization - including scheduling, task coordination, organization of meetings and retreats, preparation of the final report and coordinator of the steering group.

KOWOHÄUSER Collective housing, financing and operating models for more socially and environmentally friendly single-family housing developments

Duration: 2026-2030

Funded by: Bundesministerium Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt (BMFTR)

As Part of: Transformationscluster Soziale Innovationen für nachhaltige Städte: Nachhaltige und klimafreundliche Gebäudebestandserneuerung und effiziente und suffiziente Flächennutzung in bestehenden Stadtquartieren und Siedlungsbereichen“

Project Lead: Uni Kassel, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gabu Heindl

Department ARCHITECTURE CITIES ECONOMIES Building Economy | Project Development

Project partners: City of Göttingen, Wohnraumagentur und Freie Altenarbeit Göttingen e.V