Socio-technical transitions: a case study of co-housing in London

Despite the growing government and public interest of community-led housing in the UK, in London co-housing is still very marginal. This dissertation traces the emergence of co-housing in London through the lens of socio-technical transition theory and its multilevel perspective. This paper examines how and in what ways co-housing as an alternative community-led housing initiative is protected by the UK Cohousing Network. Further, it underlines the challenges that hinder the process of building co-housing by exploring both internal (group) and external barriers. It concludes that complex structural issues of housing delivery and demand in the UK are deeply rooted in and reproduced by socio-technical structures. Despite the growing issues of affordability - there is no clear evidence that alternative housing initiatives are encouraged within London. There is a high level of commitment, knowledge, time and financial resources required from individual group members when building co-housing. It can be suggested that further upscaling of the idea could lead to the professionalisation of co-housing in order to overcome or mitigate related issues.