Living in the 'flexible', 'creative' city: understanding the socioeconomic implications of corporatized co-living

This project will undertake a cutting-edge analysis of a pivotal but neglected response to the intensifying housing crises facing major global cities: the proliferation of corporatized 'co-living' developments. Rather than supply individualised housing units, co-living companies offer small, private units alongside large communal spaces. With highly flexible rental contracts and all-inclusive services, the schemes aim to attract mobile, creative "millennials" - filtering prospective residents through an application process. In one sense, the phenomenon appears to empower younger generations, providing alternatives to rigid housing contracts and promoting community values. In another, beneath the guise of virtuous sociability, it can be seen to legitimise squeezing profit out of ever-smaller units and champion the contested 'creative city' model, while also perfectly serving post-Fordist working conditions. It is a phenomenon that raises fundamental questions about what it means to dwell in the contemporary city.