The residents of cohousing projects are often seen as people who have their heart in community life. They themselves also emphasize the sense of community they have when they are at home. ‘Being group-minded is really important’, says a cohousing resident. For some of them, a cohousing project is the privileged housing form for community. Read: that sense of community cannot be found in a Flemish allotment or in an apartment.

But what type of community is this? If we take a look behind the façade of ten collective housing forms in Flanders and Brussels, there is a lot to learn about how community manifests itself in everyday practice. Among the 30 residents we spoke to in their communal garden or kitchen or in their privately held section, views on community differ. For example, a resident nuances the social profile of certain cohousing residents by stating: ‘our group wants to live differently on a social level, but in fact we too have been thinking about the bricks the whole time’.