Co-Living as a Rental Home Experience. Smart Home Technologies and Autonomy

Smart home designs have an essential role in enabling new urban co-living services for the rental housing market. These services are appealing for their flexibility, ease of access and comfort, but they impact the autonomy of the residents. By utilising a protection-appreciation space model we explore how bundled co-living contracts, community as a service, and smart spaces redefine the relationship between the tenants and housing service providers in the smart city. We discuss the compromises tenants have to accept for the comfortable housing service. Our results are based on a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with residents in two co-living studio facilities in a major Nordic city. We conclude with a reflection on how the technologies used function to cushion the autonomy of the residents and identify policy development needs to respond to the new challenges presented by the application of smart home technologies in co-living.