In Colombia, it’s financing a 66-storey apartment tower that developers declare will be the “first skyscraper built by . . . common people”. And in Melbourne, it could provide specially designed dwellings for groups of like-minded owners, such as pet lovers, elderly gays and lesbians, and weekend rockstars.
A spin-off from the concept of crowdfunding (raising money through social media, most commonly for films and other creative projects through donations), “crowdhousing” aims to build innovative and potentially more affordable housing by giving people a say in how they live. Unlike crowdfunding, crowdhousers are not donating to someone else’s project, but contributing to their own.
Using this embryonic concept, Melbourne architect Ivan Rijavec has just launched an online platform called Citiniche, targeting owner-occupiers who have a vested interest in getting what they want but who don’t individually have the resources to get a multi-unit project, with its economies of scale, off the ground.
Read More at The Age