Could Zurich's housing cooperatives be the solution to the rest of Europe's housing crisis? | Peter Apps

"Children zoom down a tunnel slide, as their parents watch on, sipping coffees and chatting amicably on the long benches in the middle of the courtyard. They are surrounded by modern-looking housing developments architecturally smart, medium-rise, expensive-looking in their design. This appears to be just another 21st-century development in a major city, a development that a builder has made a tidy profit out of, and flats that will have inevitably been snapped up by landlords and rented out at the highest market rate."

"People seem to know one another, neighbours greet each other warmly and are sitting together outside, rather than dashing to the metro station with earbuds jammed in. Inside, some of the flats are arranged in clusters: eight bedrooms opening out into a communal space where neighbours cook, chat and share meals. There are a larger number of working class, poorer and ethnic-minority residents than you might expect to find in a development like this in a major city."

Mehr als Wohnen in Zurich is a resident-owned cooperative comprising 13 modern, medium-rise apartment blocks. Residents buy shares to own the cooperative, eliminating landlords and speculative developers and preventing profit-driven rent increases and evictions. The development mixes families, working-class and ethnic-minority residents and emphasizes communal living through clustered flats with shared kitchens, shared courtyards, and social spaces. The site includes shops, workspaces, a restaurant, a children's nursery, a hotel, and a no-car policy supported by electric car and e-bike rental systems. The model enables genuinely affordable housing, stronger neighborhood ties, and mixed-income urban living.

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