Australian cohousing ​
Around Australia, there are a mix of urban cohousing developments
and rural ecovillages and regional cohousing developments
ACT cohousing
Urambi Village is a cohousing development in Kambah that was built in 1976 and is home for about 160 residents. It is located about 20 km south of the Canberra city centre, near the Murrumbidgee River
There are 72 townhouses at Urambi Village—43 tri-level and 29 courtyard houses—united as a community by spaces designed to promote casual meetings. These spaces were created by restricting cars to five entry areas near the road, the establishment of common facilities, such as meeting rooms, a swimming pool and ball court, connected by paths running through a landscape of predominantly native trees and shrubs​
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Wybalena Grove is a 100 townhouse development in Cook, that was designed by Sydney architect Michael Dysart in 1974, with construction completed in 1977. Wybalena Grove was established when a group of residents, dissatisfied with the way the development of the Urambi Village Housing Cooperative was progressing, split off and formed a separate group, developing the Cook Housing Cooperative. Wybalena Grove is a larger development than Urambi, being sited on roughly 28 acres of land compared with Urambi’s 11 acre site.
Stellulata is a small cohousing community of 3 retired couples who wanted to age in their own neighbourhood in North Canberra.
As an ACT demonstration three 2-bedroom units plus shared facilitiesStellulata consists of three 2-bedroom units plus shared facilities in Ainslie
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North Watson cohousing project
The second ACT demonstration cohousing project is under development, and if the 2025 tender is successful, the cohousing community will consist of 30 units on Aspinall Street in north Watson
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Previous ACT cohousing endeavours
2014 - Institute of Architects and ACT Government ran a competition for new and progressive housing designs in Canberra with the aim that ideas generated might be used for the ACT Planning Authority to improve our planning regulations. Alan Spira entered a cohousing design
2000 - Canberra Cohousing was formed and received an ACT Housing Grant in 2003 to help develop a proposal to incorporate public housing in cohousing developments. The group ceased in 2005 when it was unable to secure a sit
​2017 - ACT Legislative Assembly passed a motion to establish a demonstration housing project
2018 - Cohousing Canberra submitted an expression of interest (EOI) to be considered for purchasing the north Watson demonstration housing site
New South Wale's cohousing
Bend has ten homes in Bega, built by Community Housing Ltd (CHL), which is a private, not-for-profit, housing company using Government grants designed on permaculture principles for an ecologically and socially sustainable urban housing neighbourhood where people of diverse socio-economic status can flourish
Jarlanbah is an eco-village of 43 dwellings on 22 hectares in northern NSW that was established in 1993 and designed by Permaculture designer, Robyn Francis
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Narara Ecovillage was founded in 2006 as an intergenerational residential community on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia—surrounded by bushland, close to beaches, just over an hour north of Sydney. The site has over 50 homes on a former horticultural research station, with 3 hectares of community buildings, 12 hectares zoned for residential development, 18 hectares for agriculture and common gardens, and the remaining 24 hectares of native forest and bushland
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As part of the Nightingale Group, the Marrickville residence includes
54 teilhaus apartments, Nightingale’s space-efficient, small-footprint homes which have been incredibly popular with residents in our owner-occupier communities. The project includes generous shared spaces for laundry, gardening, dining and socialising.
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Queensland cohousing
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​Crystal Waters Permaculture Village
​Crystal Waters was established in 1987, as an intentional permaculture village with over 250 residents of all ages and from diverse cultures living on 640 acres of bushland between Maleny and Woodford. It consists of 83 privately-owned one-acre plots, arranged in small clusters, large areas of common land and cooperatively-owned commercial properties including the Village Green and EcoPark Accommodations. Much of Crystal Waters was designed using permaculture principles​.
South Australian cohousing
Christie Walk is a 27 dwelling cohousing community on 2,000 square metres in Adelaide, South Australia that has:
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Four linked three-storey townhouses with full solar orientation.
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A three storey block of six apartments with east-west orientation
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Four individual cottages
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A 5 storey apartment block facing onto Sturt Street, with a community room/ kitchen/dining/meeting room/ library, and toilets on the ground floor.
Around 40 people live at Christie Walk, ranging in age from very young to over 80 with a strong ethos of ’community’ which has developed over the past ten years
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Nightingale Bowden, in Adelaide is the first of Nightingale's South Australian projects and consists of seventeen 1BR, nineteen 2BRs, and one commercial property
Tasmanian cohousing
Cascade Housing in Hobart was the first Cohousing community built in Australia which is a unit/strata titled development of 13 households.
Cohousing Co-operative was founded in 1991 with 12 households in Hobart, based on a Danish village housing model.
Victorian cohousing
Brougham Street Cohousing is an intergenerational housing project with 20 architect designed, high quality townhouse style homes soon to constructed on land in Eltham Victoria
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Murundaka cohousing community was established in 2011 as a 20 household cohousing household rental cooperative in Heidelberg, Melbourne. Approximately 35-40 people ranging in age from infants to 60+ years live at Murundaka ​
Paddock ecovillage was completed in June 2024 and comprises
26 homes and a community centre on 1.4Ha of land, in Castlemaine, regional Victoria. Up to 60% of the total space is being dedicated to shared food gardens, planted wetlands, chooks, native gardens and orchards
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The Village is a collection of six neighbouring buildings, each designed by a different award-winning architect using the social, environmental and financial sustainability principles of the Nightingale model
Urban Coup is a a privately funded cohousing development that
is an 8 story building on 750sqm in Brunswick (29 households)
Nightingale Evergreen completed in 2022, is the smallest of the Nightingale properties with only 27 apartments in Brunswick
Nightingale Leftfield completed in 2022, consists of two Teilhaus, eleven 1 BR, fifteen 2 BRs, and one commercial property in Brunswick, Victoria
Nightingale CRT+YRD completed in 2022, consists of two Teilhaus, thirteen 1 BR, nineteen 2 BRs, three 3 BRs, and one commercial property in Brunswick, Victoria
Nightingale ParkLife completed in 2022, consists of two Teilhaus,
forteen1 BR, nineteen BRs, two 3 BRs and two commercial properties in Brunswick, Victoria
Nightingale Sky House completed in 2022, consists of seven Teilhaus, twelve 1 BR, twenty-three 2 BRs, one 3 BRs and one commercial property in Brunswick, Victoria
Western Australian cohousing
Nightingale Fremantle is the first Nightingale project in Western Australia, based in a semi-industrial area, a short ten-minute walk from central Fremantle and consisting of two 1 BR, eight 2 BRs and three 3 BRs.
Pingkarri community in Fremantle comprises 8 eight rental houses for low- income members and twelve architect-designed houses - home to around twenty people, located just fifteen minutes by bike, from sea, riverside,
Beeliar Wetlands.
