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30 The business
Collaborate. Cooperate. Consume
Economic models based on sharing, swapping, bartering,
and collective buying are outstripping outdated modes of
shopping. Technology, peer-to-peer marketplaces and customer
dissatisfaction are mixing with imagination, changing not
just what we consume but how we consume it. We speak to
proponents of this new paradigm: five alternative economisers,
collaborative consumers and collective shoppers.
Photographer Sarah Eechaut Interviews Rose Kelleher
“Ours is not the first collaborative community in Belgium,
but it’s the first co-housing community,” says Luc, one
of the founders of the project in Tubize. Co-housing is
an intentional community of private homes with shared
facilities (car-parks, dining rooms, gardens) and services
(car-sharing and babysitting for instance). Residents get
together for sport, social occasions, or to play board games.
“It’s an artificial neighbourhood. The motivation to live
in this kind of community is to connect to people and to
know your neighbours,” says Luc, adding “though it’s not
Dr. Luc Jonckheere
Cofounder, Cohousing La Grande Cense, Tubize
for everybody. Some people want their own garden, others
don’t want to leave their house and see other people.”
He believes it’s like a pendulum. “People gained their
individual territory and their property. They fought for it
for a few generations, but in the process, some things got
lost: solidarity, knowing people, helping each other, being
able to connect. There were a few generations who wanted
to master nature, to master the environment, and now its
shifted and they want to be part of it.”