Social Bonds in Co-Living

One of the marketing angles for co-living assets consists of the social / community aspect. Marketing collateral for operators typically consists of buzz words like “fostering meaningful connections”, “combating loneliness”, “a supportive environment”, etc. They are normally then paired with photos suggesting that occupants have found that intangible and ever-elusive sense of belonging and community, with these occupants in the act of sharing a moment together - perhaps a laugh and/or drink together (well the latter does sometimes foster the former), or attending a shared class together (pottery maybe?).

Excerpt from an article by the Guardian in 2019 about co-living:

In the industrial chic lobby of the Collective, a huge apartment block in the northwest London neighbourhood of Willesden Junction, a set of posters advertise its events series for residents. There’s a crystal-pendant-making workshop, a talk on the politics of body hair and another on mental health awareness. The most popular class to date, according to Jade Coles, the Collective’s head of events and experiential marketing, was on how to make a ceramic dildo. “That one sold out in eight minutes,” she says.

As yes. The ceramic dildo. Always a conversation starter.

These things make me wonder about our need for connection and belonging. It is indeed, a fundamental human need - the proliferation of the internet and its millions of ways to distract, entertain and antagonize you (so many feel good articles on so many news sites) probably succeed to some extent in helping us forget about / downplay this need, but conventional wisdom seems to suggest that it has also driven us further apart, with our ever-increasing reliance on these mediums negating the need to connect in person. It’s also way easier to connect online because it allows the individual to connect on his/her own terms - whereas in person there’s always a higher chance of rejection or mismatched expectations.

To that end, I always wondered about the extent to which co-living occupants manage to achieve this sense of belonging within their own little communities. Connecting with other strangers isn’t always easy, sometimes it also depends on how the built environment facilitates it. I’ve seen co-living facilities with large, open communal spaces, filled with ping pong tables and yoga mats. On the other hand, there are facilities that only feature a small rest area with one or two tables, perhaps a microwave, and maybe an old Monopoly set that’s probably missing two to three Monopoly pieces. The fact is, in many markets, communal spaces aren’t always easily monetisable - it’s fairly easy to get higher prices for a room with ensuite toilets, but hey, good luck trying to charge that extra one hundred bucks a month just because of a ping pong table.

The other aspect of co-living is the fairly short and transient stay periods of its occupants. Flexibility is a key factor for many occupants and 3-6 month leases are common. How do you meaningfully connect when sometimes building meaningful connections takes time, and by the time that happens, a farewell is just round the corner?

Some co-living operators have come up with rather creative concepts to cater to the varying needs of occupants and to build this concept of closeness. For example, The Nate in Hong Kong allows pet-friendly studios (from experience, it’s really quite easy bonding over talking about each other’s dogs, provided no unfortunate biting incidents occur). An operator called Apple Dorm also allows for several female-only floors - perhaps some female occupants might feel more comfortable interacting and opening up in such an environment.

One alternative model that sounds rather interesting / perhaps more promising in allowing for formation of social bonds is the concept of co-housing. The 2019 Guardian article describes it as a collective living setup that has a central idea to “structure and organise housing in such as a way as to put communities, rather than developers, in the driving seat.”

Discussion for another day.