The spaces of democratic self-management and collective care in cooperative student housing

Abstract

Student housing in Ghent is currently characterised by rising rents, a predominantly private rental market, and institutional models that offer limited opportunities for resident participation. Over the past twenty years, the number of students has increased by more than 34.000, while only 3.800 officially recognised rooms have been added. This structural imbalance intensifies competition for affordable student housing and underscores the need for alternative models that promote social sustainability and democratic forms of collective living.

Existing research conceptualises cooperatives as urban commons, as environments for democratic learning, and as socially embedded forms of collective organisation. However, it offers little insight into how ownership structures shape the spatial practices of daily self-management. This thesis fills that gap by investigating how university-managed and cooperative ownership models organise self-governance, how these arrangements shape collective life, and how the resulting spatial practices subsequently influence and transform the governance structure. The research also examines how these insights can influence the development of a student cooperative in Ghent and stimulate a critical reevaluation of established ideas regarding the design of student housing – understood here as a process completed by use, appropriation, and collective routines.

The research combines a comparative analysis of the housing situation in Ghent and Heidelberg with an architectural ethnography of the Collegium Academicum (CA), a selfmanaged student cooperative in Heidelberg. The empirical material is based on an intensive two-week field stay at the CA, including participatory observations, semistructured interviews, policy documents, and ethnographic drawings. The thesis is embedded in a transdisciplinary master's workshop with five fellow students and developed in close consultation with the City of Ghent.

The findings demonstrate that ownership models have a decisive influence on collective maintenance, organisational continuity, and resident involvement. Cooperative living at CA enables forms of care and shared responsibility that are lacking in university-managed student housing. The thesis concludes with a framework that outlines the institutional, organisational, and spatial conditions necessary for the establishment of a student cooperative in Ghent. It argues that design emerges from practice – shaped by how residents manage shared spaces, maintain infrastructure, and live together.

— Abstract, taken from the master dissertation.