Since the global financial crisis of 2008, which was triggered by a real estate crisis, there is a renewed search for alternative forms of housing production that escape speculative interests and are based instead on models of co-ownership, co-production and co-management. Against this backdrop the concept of the cooperative has experienced a true renaissance in recent years. Housing the Co-op shows how cooperative housing construction and forms of self-determined building production offer effective solutions to the global housing crisis. The manifesto and accompanying essays with case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas make a claim that by combining micro-political actions and co-operative practices we can move closer to a systemic change for a more sustainable and equitable future. A glossary of cooperative housing explains important terms.

With texts by Rainer Hehl, Patrícia Ventura, Sascha Delz, Kavita Kulkarni, Bisrat Woldeyessus, Michael Pfister, Juan Du, Paula Constante, Irina Davidovici, Anna Heilgemeir.