What is coliving?
Coliving = co (together) + living. It’s a trendy housing concept: “turnkey”, furnished, connected, ready to live in. Each inhabitant – or “coliver” – has a private space (bedroom with bathroom, even kitchenette), on the one hand. And on the other, they share generous spaces conducive to encounters and special moments: kitchen, living room, gym, coworking space, garden, cinema rooms and rooftops.
Coliving isn’t just about adding services. It offers an enriched living experience, based on conviviality, simplicity and sharing. The promise: living together, without the constraints.
Origins and definition of coliving: a concept from the United States
Coliving was born in the 2000s on the West Coast of the United States, in the wake of coworking. The first colivings were imagined by and for digital nomads. They were designed for digital workers who needed both a place to live and a place to work, without isolating themselves.
Much earlier forms of community living can be found – notably in the Scandinavian cohousing of the 1970s. Modern coliving really took off in the late 2000s and early 2010s, with pioneering initiatives such as San Francisco’s Rainbow Mansion and The Embassy Network. These early residences already offered a mix of private and shared spaces, designed to encourage exchanges, skills sharing and collaboration.
This concept has since become a veritable urban trend. In New York, Berlin and Tokyo, hundreds of residences have sprung up. They combine design, hotel services, coworking and community living. In France, the phenomenon has been gathering pace since 2017.
