Casula, MarinaORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9994-6343 and Buchter, Lisa (2025) Co-caring as later life solidarity in French collective housing. In: Collaborative Housing, Ageing and Social Care.: Lesssons from Europe Fernandez Arrigoita, Melissa, Felstead, Aimée, Hudson, Jim, Izuhara, Misa, Scanlon, Kate and West, Karen (eds.) Bristol University Press. pp. 51-69. ISBN 9781447375821

Abstract

This chapter aims to reconceptualise the articulation between collaborative housing, care and ageing by proposing the concept of ‘co-care’ to integrate cooperation and collective dynamics in caring for ageing people in cohousing. It is based on the results of participatory action research project (RAPSoDIÂ). We analyse how five cohousing projects located in France engaged with questions of ageing and solidarity. One of them faced a situation that brought a collective of inhabitants (who were also field researchers) to experience concrete solidarity with a dying neighbour during the research time. We analyse this case in depth in the last section, relying on the concept of 'co-caring' as a frame of analysis to highlight the collective reflections and practices of care.