The Urban Village

Oslo is one of the fastest growing cities in the Nordic region with an expected growth of around 200,000 inhabitants by 2030. This growth requires areas for more housing and as a result green areas are under an increasing pressure. In order to meet population growth in a sustainable way, there is a consensus that people must live closer and more densely in the future.

This thesis project investigates how living collectively with ecological implementation can provide well-being, raise living quality and contribute to informal, social and sustainable urban settlements. The strategic aim of the proposal has been to create a co-housing scheme that embrace both the social dimensions - building communities, but including the natural processes of biodiversity and urban cultivation. How sharing resources and collaboration in Klyngetunet created a sense of belonging, and how the dense living settlement increased the social community, have been of inspiration to challenge today’s established notions of urban living, recreation, land use, and social meeting places.