How will we live in Aotearoa in 20, 30, 50 years? Will the ‘quarter of an acre’ still be the dream of most aspiring homeowners? What will our communities look like and how will climate change affect our choice of housing? Will private ownership still be the most common option? How can collective housing play a role in shaping the future of our housing choices in the future? These are some of the big questions that CoHoHui4, the Collective Housing Conference organised by THIS is looking at addressing in its 2025 edition, in Ōtautahi Christchurch.

Collective housing describes scenarios where residents decide to live in intentional communities, in private, self-contained homes but with some resources that are shared and with the goal of fostering collaboration and mutual support. Examples of collective housing are cohousing, papakāinga, community land trusts, ecovillages, housing cooperatives, community housing, co-living, build-to-rent models and more.

CoHoHui this year will be different as, for the first time since its inception in 2019, the event will be offered as an academic conference, with an international call for papers and a special issue Urbanization, Sustainability and Society (USS) Journal, The Future of Housing, published by Emerald Publishing.

The event will run across three days, with a networking dinner on the evening of the 15th at Visions, the café and restaurant on Ara campus. The academic sessions, panels, exhibitions and workshops will be held on the 16th in the Kahukura Building, and site visits on the 17th of April.

The conference will provide a great opportunity for collective and alternative housing advocates to connect, be inspired and reflect on what key changes are needed for housing to become more affordable, sustainable and truly inclusive in the future. Several themed sessions will run in parallel for academics to present their research, while expert panels and workshops will engage and educate the audience on the latest developments in the collective housing sector.

Thomas Moore, one of the international keynote speakers, will be joining the conference from the University of Liverpool, where he works as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Planning. He has researched community-led housing models in England since 2007, exploring their growth and development through local case studies, project and funding evaluations, and international comparisons. Tom is interested in the potential for community-led housing models to challenge transactional, market-based logics that characterise many housing systems, as well as the opportunities and limitations of models that rely on citizen leadership and participation. In addition to community-led housing, Tom undertakes research a range of issues related to community planning and housing policy and inequality.

Louise Crabtree-Hayes is a Professor at the Institute of Society and Culture at Western Sydney University and is Australia’s leading expert on housing cooperatives and community land trusts. Louise’s research focuses on the social, ecological and economic sustainability of community-driven housing developments in Australia; on the uptake of housing innovation in practice and policy; on complex adaptive systems theory in urban contexts; and, on the interfaces between sustainability, property rights, institutional design and democracy.

Greer O’Donnell, co-founder and director of The Urban Advisory will give an update on the findings of its New Zealand Housing Survey, a fundamental tool for councils, government organisations, researchers and developers to help build awareness around how people live, want to live and what barriers are in the way to achieving their housing aspirations.

On the last day, CoHoHui will take their attendees on a journey to visit several collective housing developments around Ōtautahi: the recently completed Te Pakau Maru stage one for example, a Kāinga Maha housing development in New Brighton, offering a mixed-tenures approach while featuring Homestar rated, architecturally designed homes that emphasize sustainability, community connection, and resilience.

As we look ahead to CoHoHui 2025, the questions this event seeks to answer could not be more urgent: How can we reimagine housing in Aotearoa to create communities that are affordable, sustainable, resilient and inclusive? How can collective housing offer new pathways to address the housing crisis and reshape the way we live, work, and connect with one another?

Cohohui4 conference is not just a gathering, but a call to action. It’s an opportunity to learn from global thought leaders, engage with innovative housing models, and contribute to meaningful change in our housing systems. Whether you’re an academic, a policymaker, a practitioner, or simply someone passionate about better housing for all, CoHoHui 2025 invites you to be part of this vital conversation.

Don’t miss this chance to connect, collaborate, and be inspired. Register today to join us in Ōtautahi Christchurch, where the future of housing will be envisioned, debated, and set into motion. Together, let’s build a better tomorrow, one collective housing community at a time.

The biannual CoHoHui conference is organised by The Housing Innovation Society (THIS) in collaboration with the Architecture and Engineering Department, Ara Institute of Canterbury.