Self-build communities: the rationale and experiences of group-build (Baugruppen) housing development in Germany

Abstract

© 2015 Taylor & Francis Group-build housing developments can bring together the cost and customisation benefits regularly attributed to self-build housing with a communitarian ethos associated with ‘intentional’ communities. This paper presents an initial examination of the rationale, motivations and social experiences of group-build housing from Germany, where over half of all new homes are produced independently from volume-build developers. The paper aims, firstly, to test the hypothesis that group-build delivers general ‘community’ benefits; secondly, to contribute to an understanding of the processes leading to successful schemes; and lastly, to demonstrate that by making individual home building dependent on the success of a larger group, collective interests can prevail over personal pursuit. This research draws attention to the motivations, the social experiences through the development process and the social legacy – aspects of particular interest for policy-makers as well as prospective builders – of group-build housing projects