L’habitat participatif et l’impératif écologique : une utopie réaliste ?

• Main Author: Jeoffrey Magnier
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Presses Universitaires du Mirail 2017-03-01
• Series: Sciences de la Société
• Subjects: cohousing; institutionalization; substainability; citizen’s initiative; collaboration; participation
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/sds/4890

The new cohousing models introduce a development in ecological issues in the housing sphere, making respect for the environment crucial for the inhabitants involved in the project. Following an increase in the number of projects approved, as well as initiatives by social landlords towards publicly-assisted housing or social renting, the strong budgetary constraints of landlords are clashing with the desires of the future inhabitants, opposing desire and orders on the one side with possibility on the other. With support for this initiative from public authorities as well as by professionals actively investigated in this area, cohousing seems to tend towards a model that adapts to current social issues, including « living together », participating in the creation and management, and sustainable housing. However, showcasing environmental respect seems to be a biased perspective, since the balance between necessary costs regarding energy performance and investment possibilities seems to be, as things stand currently, unbalanced for the inhabitants. It is precisely this imbalance that we intend to investigate – one that, nevertheless, has not affected the enthusiasm of the inhabitants, whom we consider to be citizens active in the associative and collaborative economy, refusing the disillusion of post-1968 collective and community movements.