The question of, What is coliving for Digital Nomads? should have been our first post… But it wasn’t…
In recent months, I have realized that I don’t quite understand the essence of coliving, and I wonder…
- What do people look for in a coliving?
- What do you expect to find?
- In short, what is coliving?
Why Coliving…
The last decades have been full of dizzying changes, these generate new needs and opportunities and, as a consequence, new options, solutions, and business opportunities arise.
Some of those new challenges…
- Climate change, destruction of ecosystems
- A rapid increase in population in the cities of the planet
- Unaffordability and housing crisis
- Loneliness of millions of people
- Remote work revolution
Short answer
For us, the word Coliving comes from Community and Living, that is the key element of any coliving space, the community proposition, the feeling of belonging…
What is Coliving?
In response to all those problems and others, a type of accommodation arises based on
- Community
- Collaboration
- Consciousness
At the same time, a community philosophy predominates, sharing with like-minded people
- Resources
- Space
- Experiences
This is probably the true essence of Coliving accommodation, the community…
Therefore, living in a Coliving is a life experience
- where you give and receive,
- where you teach and learn
- where life revolves around sharing…
In a coliving for Digital Nomads and Remote Workers, one of your first goals is to be productive. Colivings are primarily collaborative workspaces, with coworking areas inside of the house…
Why are Colivings perfect for Digital Nomads?
I once heard Gonzalo Hall say something like, “Digital Nomads travel from one community to another community.” They don´t travel to places but to communities…
Working while traveling alone is not easy, and some negative consequences can arise sooner or later in the long run…
The main reasons for Digital Nomads to look for colivings while traveling are…
- The intentionality of the space- Colivings are designed to nurture connections between members
- Community- Coliving provides a network of people with similar lifestyles.
- Flexibility- Digital Nomads move constantly, avoiding long-term leases and choosing accommodations with flexible rental terms, where everything is ready when check-in. More about this topic in the Ruralco blog
Most remote workers and Digital Nomads look for great destinations with a Digital Nomad community…
Community
But… what is community?
“A group of people who share mutual concern for one another” Requires two things, common values, and a common goal... Communities build relationships…
What differentiates coliving from other types of accommodation is the need for its members to share time, experiences, and learning with other members of the community.
Social contact and community building are promoted
How do you activate social connections?
- Primarily with common spaces with social intentions
- Carrying out activities with Porpuse to connect members
- Creation of communities with specific purposes where common values or interests are shared
The role of the facilitator
A community doesn´t grow for itself. At least somebody needs to do some facilitation work, introduce new members, solve conflicts, promote participation in different ways, etc…
There are too many different types of communities, so the facilitation work changes due to the goal and the structure of the community…
Other common characteristics
- The accommodations are fully equipped. The rooms are furnished and have everything you need for your stay.
- Amenities such as weekly cleaning, towels, and cleaning products are included, which means fewer household tasks for members
- A single payment, one fee covers all bills… There are usually no hidden costs
- Each member usually has their own room, but not always…
- Flexibility – stays can be short, medium, or long, depending on the needs of the members
Who is Coliving for?
Coliving is for curious travelers who want to share their knowledge while connecting with like-minded people.
There is no age limit and in most colivings you can meet people from different generations, which is a great incentive.
However, the main audience is millennials, also known as Generation Y, born between 1981 and 1996. A generation loving to travel, experience new things, and have a positive impact on the planet.
Advantages of Coliving
There are many, but we will highlight some of them below.
- Network– You can increase your network of work contacts by sharing the space with other members with similar or complementary profiles.
- Diversity – Related with networking is diversity, the possibility of meeting oll kind of people, bring new perpectives to your experience
- Personal and professional development
- Sustainable living due to sharing resources and spaces
- Friendships- It will be easy for you to make new friends, community activities, in addition to sharing common spaces, help create social connections.
- Better landing – arriving in a city or region where you have never been can be challenging, for economic or cultural reasons. The community can help you better understand the identity of the place you have just arrived.
- Work environment and productivity – Most members are Digital Nomads or Remote Workers.
Sustainability
One of the most important features of colivings is the positive impact of sharing resources in a home.
This helps to minimize energy consumption and waste generated when we travel. It also reduces our carbon footprint.
On a personal level, living in a community also helps us to have healthier relationships, reducing stress and allowing us to be happier.
Productivity
You will notice by visiting the different coliving websites that practically all of them usually have a space dedicated to remote work, a coworking space.
It is also normal to have a desk in the room, in case you need to make a call or have a meeting.
One of the biggest problems with remote work is productivity, we all know that maintaining routine and self-discipline at home can be quite complicated.
If you read the experiences of some Digital Nomads in Sun and Co, they highlight how productive, consistent, and creative they are when working in a Coliving.
And… For me
Most of you know all this theory, but if I can tell you my personal opinion about coliving, it would be a bit different…
For me, many of the people who decide to stay at a Coliving are looking for something… It could be knowledge, love, discovering yourself, growing…
Maybe you are thinking, well… we are all looking for something, and even more so when we travel…
But some of the people who stay in a Coliving are looking for that more intensely, with more determination…
What is Coliving for others?
Art of Coliving. Gui Perdrix
Gui Perdrix published an extraordinary book about Coliving, in this text, we can read…
“Coliving spaces put an increased focus on the communal experience and on the personal experince: from events to resident perks, coliving communities try to offer an experiential lifestyle, instead of simply moblity in housing”
Other definitions we like…
“Coliving done well requires a commitment toward community” Matthias Hollwich, Founder, HWKN
“Coliving means living in community with the mindset of preferring to share than to get” Gianpaolo Volve Pasini, Founder, ECo
Conscious Coliving
Another great resource to understand the Coliving industry is the website of Conscious Coliving, where we can read…
“shared living spaces that
genuinely foster connection with self, others, and nature
to pursue more meaningful, emotionally fulfilling, and sustainable lives”
Ali Greene definition
Whatching an interview with Ali Greene in Colivers Club Podcast of Mapmelon, I fall in love with this definition
“An experience with a shared accomodation, where the intention is to build community, around people that have the flexibility to be location independent and to work toghter”
Sun and Co Coliving
Sun and Co. is one of the best and oldest Colivings for digital Nomads in Europe.
Born in 2015. Its work and community are an inspiration for many other Colivings for Digital Nomads in the world.
This community is located in Javea, Spain, in a traditional house renovated with the purpose and intention of being a perfect community space with great coworking and communal areas.
The community is very well organized, and participation arises with meetings and other activities set up by the facilitators to connect members with fun events or more work-focused activities…
We recommend you to visit their website www.sun-and-co.com
Belong
When you want to achieve something, it is always easier, more motivating, and more enriching, if you do it belonging to a group, tribe, clan or community… when you do it with others…
More definitions… The debate…
But for some spaces and some travelers, the meaning of Coliving for Digital Nomads and Remote workers is not related to the community at all…
For many Nomads, Colivings are shared flats where you can work. Some of these spaces are cheap, and others are very expensive.
Most of them have shared areas and even good coworking inside the house, but there is no community, and nobody works to build any sense of belonging.
Debate- Can we call them coliving?
The reality is that many people call them colivings, they call themselves colivings in their marketing, and most importantly, many Digital Nomads look for places without a community, just a bed and a desk…
Written by a human being- Jonatan
