The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World's Happiest People(7)

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According to the Office of National Statistics in Denmark, the number of bof?llesskaber has increased by 20 per cent in the past six years. It is especially attractive to families looking for supportive environments for their kids, and to elderly relatives, who are in danger of falling into social isolation.

A couple of years ago, the Danish anthropologist Max Pedersen did a large study of seniorbof?lleskaber, co-housing for the elderly, and found that ‘it is difficult to see the data and statements as other than a success for the bof?lleskaber’: 98 per cent reported feeling safe in their community, 95 per cent were satisfied with their living situation – but I think the most interesting data was that 70 per cent reported having at least four friends among their neighbours.

What about you? Do you know the names of your neighbours – and would you call any of them your friends?

How many of your neighbours would you describe as friends?



Number of neighbours described as friends by Danes living in bof?lleskaber

Source: Max Pedersen, The Great Experiment (Det store eksperiment), 2013





The bof?lleskaber scheme is now gaining momentum around the world, and increasing in popularity in Canada, Australia and Japan. Hundreds have already been established in Germany, the US and the Netherlands. In 2014, the Guardian reported that more than sixty co-housing projects were in the pipeline in the United Kingdom. Jo Gooding, coordinator of the UK Co-housing Network, describes these projects as ‘self-managing communities, independently governed by the people who live there’.

Like the place where Mikkel grew up, the design encourages social interaction and attracts single elderly people who want to live neither in isolation nor in conventional housing for old people, and families who gain when raising their kids and working at a career by living in a supportive environment. According to the Guardian, there was a 100 per cent increase in groups forming between 2012 and 2014, and at least eighteen projects have been completed, with ‘a definite trend towards cities’, including London, Cardiff, Newcastle, Leeds and Cambridge.

As a happiness researcher, that makes me, well, happy. But you do not need to be a happiness researcher to guess what effect a stronger sense of community, an increased feeling of safety and security and more and closer friendships have on people’s happiness.

Naturally, the balance of privacy and communality is critical in these models and a bof?llesskab is not for everyone, but perhaps we can take elements of what works and apply them in new settings. It’s clear that being part of a tribe has a positive effect on our well-being. So, let’s look at some concrete steps you can take to enhance the community spirit in your neighbourhood.





FIVE WAYS TO PLANT A COMMUNITY


1. CREATE A DIRECTORY FOR YOUR STREET OR STAIRWAY

Knock on your neighbours’ doors and introduce yourself. Alternatively, for us introverts, drop a sign-up sheet in everyone’s letterbox. You can tell people that you are creating the list in case of burst pipes and other emergencies. Ask for names and contact information, but also consider adding a questionnaire to help you get to know people better. Would you babysit a dog or cat? (Yes! Also, can I please walk the dog once in a while?) What is your favourite book? (I’m always torn between The Great Gatsby and A Farewell to Arms.) How many languages do you speak? (Three on average. After a bottle of wine: five; before my morning coffee: barely one.) Try and focus on skills that might be of use to other neighbours. Who is good with computers? Who knows how to change a tyre? Who knows how to preserve fruit?

2. ESTABLISH A BOOK-LENDING CUPBOARD

A simple way to start the conversation in your community is to establish a mini-library built on the take-one-leave-one-book principle. The library doesn’t have to be anything fancy or contain the entire collection of the Library of Alexandria.

In my stairway in Copenhagen, I’ve just put books on top of the rack of letterboxes. It makes the stairway more homely, it is fun to watch which books get picked up and it encourages interaction between the neighbours. The current collection in my stairway includes titles like A Concise History of Architecture, The Great Gatsby and Introduction to Statistics. For some reason, the first two seem to be the most popular.





3. USE THE SOFT EDGES

There is a bench in my courtyard right outside my kitchen window where I often sit and read. From the bench, you can see a tall chestnut tree and hear the wind in the leaves. The bench also functions as a semi-private space – I can be by myself, but I am still close enough to the public space that people will say hello and ask about the book I’m reading. You won’t ever get to know your neighbours if you never see them. Spaces like this – front gardens and porches – are called soft edges, and studies show that streets with soft edges feel safer and people tend to stay in them longer. Just being out in front of your house gives a welcoming vibe that encourages interaction. Few people would dare come into your kitchen to say hello, but if you are in your front garden, people may get to know you and you them. Because of my outdoor reading spot, I’ve learned that, upstairs from me, live Peter and his daughter Katrine, and further up lives Majed, who has a fruit store (with delicious peaches), and the last time I met him he was going on his first bike ride in twenty years. Interestingly, noise from neighbours ceases to be annoying once you get to know their names and stories.