We often hear words such as eco-friendly, environmentally friendly, sustainable living being used. We know that they’re related to the balanced use of natural resources while keeping the environment healthy and pollution-free. However, you might be wondering where co-living fits into all this, isn’t it? Let’s first understand what co-living is all about. Co-living refers to space-sharing among people whose values, ideas, and interests are in sync.
Revisiting the link between co-living and the environment, we need to understand that we’ve been exploiting nature for our own selfish interests forever now. We’ve acquired huge homes, upscale furniture to go with it, cars, a plethora of gadgets, all of which have caused near-depletion of valuable natural resources. And the process continues. So, to prevent further damage to the environment, we need to protect whatever’s left of it by adopting environmentally sustainable practices, such as using products made from recycled materials and recycling used goods as much as possible. One such practice includes communal living, where people have access to shared space and resources, leading to their optimal use. It’s shared housing but with a twist. Let’s dig deeper into why co-living is considered an environmentally-friendly practice:
1. Co-living leads to sustainable living because of space and asset-sharing
One of the highlights of co-living is sharing space and assets, which is key to sustainable co-living. How? Co-living has a community vibe, ensuring that a set of resources is accessible to everyone living in the space. Roommates also share personal items, food, and travel expenses. Isn’t that incredible? Limited quantities of resources result in their total consumption and are much better than having them in excess and throwing them away.
In other words, in co-living, assets are exchanged and borrowed so that nothing is wasted. Hmlet, a co-living space that’s come up in a big way in Singapore and a few other parts of the world, includes furniture and appliances that every community member can use.
The concept of sustainable living aims to reduce the use of the Earth’s resources by people and the world in general. Co-living helps us achieve exactly that!
2. Sustainable interior designs make co-living worthwhile
Co-living spaces consider sustainability as one of their core objectives, for the most part. So, while designing the interiors of such spaces, they attempt to use sustainable materials. Considering Hmlet’s example again, it uses FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified wood for its furniture. It deliberately keeps away from materials such as leather since its production emits many pollutants into the environment. In addition, the design that goes into their furniture pieces considers sustainability. Besides having sizeable beds, the bed frames are constructed with less wood. In the future, the company plans to acquire more sustainable items to benefit its members.
In a word, using sustainable materials in optimum quantities in co-living spaces will ensure that nature’s not drained of all its resources.
3. Co-living is more reasonable than regular renting
Co-living spaces are more reasonably priced than rooms for rent because they include massive spaces shared by multiple people, so paying for the rent and utilities here is very different from splitting them with a roommate in a rental room. Making sure you and your roommates make timely monthly payments is an exhausting task. That’s not the case for co-living spaces, with many of them asking community members to pay only for the room they’ve rented. This is because each occupant directly communicates with the co-living organization to rent their space.
Also, co-living spaces are fully furnished, not something we can expect in rental rooms unless we specifically look up furnished rentals. In such situations, tenants are forced to buy essential furniture items, such as a bed, a table, and a sofa, among other things. So, when they move out, what happens? They dispose of the items or give them to someone else. Doesn’t work in co-living. People may come and go, but the furniture stays put for all community members! Nothing is wasted, which is what sustainable living teaches us to do.
4. Co-living is the answer to excessive population growth and overcrowded cities
Populations worldwide are skyrocketing because people are moving to cities for better opportunities and amenities. In a situation where the population is rising, but housing issues are preventing people from finding decent places to live in, co-living seems to be the answer. To handle hordes of people, cities need to be more structured and have systems in place. Investing in more co-living spaces and finding ways to manage them will ensure cities don’t struggle to deal with people and resources.
A significant advantage of co-living spaces is that they don’t take up as much room as an individual house because several people occupy a building. In addition, if we consider studio apartments, they offer a single kitchen, bathroom, and living room for one occupant. On the other hand, co-living spaces offer the same areas, but they’re communal and must be shared by everyone living under the same roof. In the end, it achieves the objective of using less space.
5. Co-living is changing mindsets on sustainability
Whether you’re an eco-conscious individual who cares deeply about the environment or not, we don’t know. But what we do know is that a co-living lifestyle can do wonders in changing your perception of sustainability.
The experience you gather in a co-living space will be enough to influence you to apply them no matter where you end up living. Since it’s man-made practices that have led to population explosion and environmental degradation, it’s about time we start inculcating co-living practices in every aspect of our lives. For instance, if you’re traveling, it’s natural to want to stay at a hotel. For a change, see if you can find a co-living space and experience a different lifestyle!
6. Co-living spaces use up less energy
Co-living spaces help in reducing the carbon footprint. Confused? Don’t be. Our activities adversely impact the environment by releasing greenhouse gases with a substantial quantity of carbon dioxide. Increased amounts of carbon dioxide have resulted in global warming and the consequent increase in temperatures. So, as citizens, our responsibility is to take up activities that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and we can start by consuming less energy. How do we do that?
Finally, Comunitia reveals that co-living spaces have started using building panels that save energy and are exploring solar panels to reduce the home carbon footprint!
7. Co-living can help spread awareness on sustainability
Co-living spaces can take measures to increase awareness of sustainability so that more and more people can start following such practices, thereby making the world a healthier place to live in. They can gather people who’re well-versed with the concept of sustainability and will put their heart and soul into protecting and preserving the environment. This group can also include people who’ve had the privilege of living in a co-living space.
These individuals can use their networks to garner support from more like-minded folks. This massive group of individuals can use their knowledge and communication skills to share best practices on using renewable resources to prevent pollution and depletion of natural resources. In a word, those who’ve lived in co-living spaces can share their experiences and lessons learned and inspire others to become more environmentally conscious.
So, what are your thoughts on co-living? We hope that as an environmentally-friendly citizen, you’ll consider opting for co-living. Remember that continued population growth will increase the demand for rented spaces and resources. However, the supply of affordable housing may not be able to keep up with the demand. Under such circumstances, real estate companies and landlords may be forced to look at co-living as a way of meeting the demand and sustaining their rental business. As a matter of fact, companies like Alcove have already initiated the process of converting single-family homes into co-living spaces accommodating several tenants. To sum up, co-living is the need of the hour and will be felt more so in the coming days.
