The new community

The front of the house features the Neighbor’s Court, a bocce ball court that TC Plus describes as “always accessible, and where everyone can play together no matter their age or language.” Instead of a traditional front door, the house is accessed through an eight-meter-wide curtain, which can be drawn for privacy. Inside the house, spaces range from public to private, with beds hidden in alcoves behind folding wooden panels.

In June 2019, Ikea’s research lab Space10 launched the Urban Village Project, a new community format structured around the idea that cities should be more communal, more affordable and more sustainable. The concept proposes a subscription-based living model with shared facilities and communal services like daycare, urban farming and shared transportation. The design combines private living with shared spaces such as communal kitchen and dining areas in an effort to foster social connection.

The project also proposes a democratic financing structure, allowing residents to progressively purchase ownership shares, keeping rents low. Ikea’s vision is to look at “new realities that promote a sense of wellbeing and turn the spaces we inhabit into healthier and happier places, all while being more affordable and efficient for those that live there.”

In Mexico, an experimental neighborhood proposes different housing prototypes designed to improve residents’ quality of life. The social housing project, called Housing Research and Practical Experimentation Laboratory, was led by Infonavit, a federal company that develops workers’ housing. The company selected 32 architects and designers to create innovative solutions to issues plaguing low-income housing in Mexico, in an effort to address everything from furniture to construction techniques to water-saving systems to sustainable energy sources, without driving home costs up.

“It is clear that unless we rethink our built environment, our cities will become increasingly unsustainable, unaffordable and socially unequal,” said Jamiee Williams, architectural lead at Space10. Designers like these are leading the charge, finding new ways of living together.