A Guide to Zero-Carbon Skåne

If you’re not a member of the DHCM, well, maybe you should consider it—particularly if you’re planning on moving around a lot, whether in Skåne or beyond. But what’s it all about, you may be wondering? Well, read on…

Rising living costs throughout the 2020s meant that sharing—both space and things—became a a necessity for most people, even as the early “sharing economy” successes were revealed as unpleasant, exploitative or rent-seeking.

Collective housing was nothing new—particularly not here in Sweden!—but this latest wave swept up whole new demographics, and led to a drastic rise in demand. Massive foreclosed-upon villas became blossoming intergenerational housing (young folks upstairs, older folks downstairs); the “big box” buildings that lined the highways were retrofitted into seasonal co-ops, providing live-work space to workers with different skill sets depending on the season; community towers were erected using only re-used building materials and wood beams (a novelty at the time). In almost every case, these places were designed for collective living, with shared cooking and gardening spaces.

Many countries experienced similar developments. But the comparative poverty of those years did little to lessen peoples’ wanderlust—train and blimp travel was all the rage! That’s why a tech-minded German collective created the DCHM. It’s a system that automatically identifies empty rooms in collective housing that you can sign up for if you are passing through; the only requirement is that you have opened up your own home in kind. 

Here are just a few examples of housing projects with DCHM affiliation. Do remember that availability depends on the absence of a regular resident, and that you will be expected to follow (or at least respect) the prevailing ideology or outlook of your hosts during your stay!