History of Shared/Co-Living

A brief history of coliving

https://www.common.com/blog/2018/11/brief-history-coliving/
https://www.citylab.com/life/2016/02/brief-history-of-co-living-spaces/470115/

"For most of human history, people chose to live communally. Hunter-gatherers, medieval houses, and immigrants lived in large camps and shared homes, depending on each other for food, childcare, and a sense of community. Coliving, though considered a relatively new concept, has its roots in this archaic and basic human tendency."

The idea that humans choose to co-live as a way of dependency and community can translate into my book through the idea of sharing - sharing the pages and stickers can be likened to sharing resources and the idea of community can be represented through putting the poster up in a communal space as something everyone can share.

Hunter Gatherers
Back then, people couldn't survive on their own so it became "a part of our biology" to support and receive support from others such as communities gathering around one fire under one roof. 

Middle Ages
Throughout the Medieval era, people lived in communal households. These people came from diverse backgrounds such as townspeople, widows, orphans, elders, relatives, servants etc and all lived together as houses were not considered so much as a private and personal space but more public. 

Industrial Revolution
Due to industrialisation, people actively left home home to commute to work allowing for a new economy of domestic privacy as people were making money. However with the rise of domestic privacy came the rise of popularity in boarding houses as people still felt the need to live within and share a space with a community or friends, family and neighbours.

“between one third and one-half of nineteenth-century urban residents either took in boarders or were boarders themselves,” according to Indiana University history professor Wendy Gamber.

World Wars
The World Wars meant boarding houses were extremely popular as women needed accommodation when working far from home and men needed homes in places outside their hometown. People living within these board houses formed a surrogate family as they shared housekeeping duties and ate together which resulted in a "culture of social norms" around co-living.

Modern Era
After the wars, individual housing and domestic privacy became the norm again due to the tradition of a "nuclear family" however as time went on, the issues with housing costs, the norm of not aiming to be a nuclear family, and the social culture of constantly moving due to work and opportunistic reasons means that shared living has become a norm once again. "Today, more than 65 million people live with roommates, and that number is growing. When looking for a home, most of us now look for convenience, affordability, and a sense of community (roommates, neighbourhoods)."