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Neighborly assistance: high expectations of multi-generation cohousing projects

Yvonne Wechuli (Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany)

Working with Older People

ISSN: 1366-3666

Article publication date: 13 July 2017

Issue publication date: 17 August 2017

222

Abstract

Purpose

Multi-generation cohousing projects are loaded with the expectations of inhabitants and planners, as well as political representatives. They are expected to foster a form of neighborly assistance, which is supposed to ultimately unburden social security. But evidence is scarce when it comes to central aspects like long-term development, the influence of context factors, the quality of community living, and the neighborly assistance actually provided. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Hence, this explorative study sought to specify the support activities that neighbors in one cohousing project carried out. A survey was conducted in three survey intervals, with questionnaires structured according to the ”Activities” chapter of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (WHO 2002).

Findings

Respondents reported receiving or providing assistance in all suggested areas of life, but some activities were more common than others. Respondents with long-term support requirements were not assisted by neighbors but by other caregivers. The results indicate that neighborliness depends on the individual activity radius since the scope of assistance varied along with socio-demographic characteristics. Respondents deemed reciprocity important to guarantee the voluntary nature of neighborly support and also to allow care recipients to specify how support should be given.

Research limitations/implications

The author therefore suggests considering multi-generation cohousing projects as a means to foster Quality of Life rather than to cut costs.

Originality/value

Findings from this study with a focus on multi-generation cohousing with the legal status of cooperatives and implications for spatial planning were previously published in: Kuhnke, Y. (2015), “Nachbarschaftliche Hilfen. Hohe Erwartungen an Mehrgenerationenwohnprojekte in der Rechtsform der Genossenschaften” (Neighborly Assistance. High Expectations of Multi-generation Cohousing Projects under the Legal Form of Registered Cooperatives), RaumPlanung, Vol. 179 No. 3, pp. 20-6.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank his supervisors Professor Elisabeth Wacker and Simone Schüller, as well as Professor Renate Walthes for giving the author the freedom to investigate a very interesting idea and for their continued support after finalizing her Master’s thesis. This support resulted in the author’s winning the ConSozial price for young scientists.

Citation

Wechuli, Y. (2017), "Neighborly assistance: high expectations of multi-generation cohousing projects", Working with Older People, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 133-139. https://doi.org/10.1108/WWOP-02-2017-0006

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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