What are the challenges and development prospects for co-living in Brussels? Analysis and comparison with New York City

Details

Supervisors

Lejeune, Christophe ; Cerrada Cristia, Karine

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion

Abstract

Following the fast increase of population, urbanization, globalization, the depletion of natural resources, technology advancements… a new form of economy has emerged, namely the sharing economy. It introduces businesses that disrupt traditional markets, and co-living is one of these businesses. In the wake of these societal changes, people in search for housing have developed new needs and desires of flexibility and community; which has opened a window of opportunity for co-living businesses and has allowed them to flourish in many global cities. This master’s thesis aims to investigate how the co-living market will develop in Brussels, by analysing what challenges co-living is facing, and what the development prospects are for this market. The work is divided in two parts. First, a theoretical part, intended to define the key concept of co-living, as well as its characteristics and typologies and the strategies related to the concept found in the existing literature, to be later used in the research to characterize and categorize practical examples. The second part of the thesis is the practical part. Based on a qualitative research, in the form of semi-directed interviews, we were able to offer some elements of response to the research question. The research focused on two markets; New York City and Brussels. The co-living market of NYC, which is booming and already includes 15 major players, was analysed first and set as a reference of success to compare with the case of Brussels. Then, Brussels’s co-living market was analysed, which enabled to identify local barriers on the market. Next, the comparison was made with the NYC co-living market to evaluate whether despite the different market conditions and characteristics, co-living in Brussels could also grow into an important market, on its own scale. The analysis concludes that the major challenges for co-living in Brussels are to develop despite the risk of restrictive regulations coming up and the reluctance of authorities to embrace the concept. Concretely, around 2021 the next Regional Planning Regulations (RRU) will be adopted. On the other hand, these regulations could also be beneficial to regulate the market and professionalise the niche. The analysis also suggested that foreign co-living companies might be discouraged to enter Brussels because of the amount of red tape and further administrative complexity in the country. Some actors do believe that co-living will know a very important growth and that new types of co-living might even be possible for other niches. Further research is needed to evaluate the business opportunities after the entry into force of the RRU.