3 Years of Happy Pigeons - Part II
INTRODUCTION
In the first part of this blog post we took a look at our available data to get to know more about ourselves as Happy Pigeons and to see the Coliving scene in Berlin through our lenses. We got to know the profiles of people applying to colive and checked our Prices to the market prices.
Looking back at this data, our interaction with the applicants through the past couple of years and our own community feedback, we realized that we need to change our website a bit to be more transparent. We added separate pages for every Nest as a start.
In this part we try to look back at our efforts in building bridges between our coliving Pigeons and the local community. One of our main goals is to build a diverse community that is integrated and can play an active role in our little neighborhood.
We understand the image of coliving is getting lately linked directly to UFOs international digital nomads that parachute in inner city neighborhoods without any interest in connecting with the local community, even in some cases taking part in gentrifying the neighborhood. However as a small player in this market we try to do the opposite.
This is not an easy task but we know that it is an incremental process and we are paving our way towards achieving it.
COMMUNITY SPACE
Our community space serves several functions. It is a hybrid space that acts as a proxy in between our “inner” Pigeons community and the “outer” local community.
Space usage can be summed up in 4 main categories:
Coworking space during weekdays ( from 9 to 5 )
The space is not exclusive for our coliving pigeons, but it is open for all.
On average we have around 9-11 coworking members and 2 of our pigeons use it as an office. ( daily average usage ranges is around 5-7 people )
Coworkers are either living nearby and /or prefer a small office space where you have your own kitchen and this cozy feeling of knowing your coworkers.
Event space after working hours
Events are organized on Donation basis mainly or on a fair arrangement with the organizers depending on the type of the activity.
All events are open for everyone.
Community use
Usually the space acts as a community space for the coliving “pigeons”, they have access 24/7 and can use the space for their own gatherings, events, workshops.
We tend to host our monthly gatherings in the space as well.
Space rental / Private events
Max 3 days a month, we rent out the space for private events / workshops.
This is a way to keep the space financially sustainable and keep offering low/fair fees for the coworking ( 75 € for a fixed desk per month )
TYPES OF HOSTED ACTIVITIES
Our community space hosts all sorts of activities.
Lately, we have weekly regular events like Stretching, singing classes and Yoga on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays respectively. The yoga and stretching are hosted by Mari participation is on donation basis or via the urban sports club platform. Usually people from the neighborhood and our community attend such events. The singing is hosted by Jared and a group called “Simply Tuning in” . They also host an open mic night every last Friday of the month.
For the regular events, they are completely self organized by now, the organizers have their own keys and they take care of the space, prepare for their events and reorganize the space after they finish.
Other than this, we host a wide range of workshops/events from business related to fun social gatherings. Some of our hosted events were startup development monthly workshops, Fun drama writing nights, panel discussions and meetups about coliving, Networking events, natural cosmetics workshop, dancing, breakfast meetups, cooking and our own community gatherings.
Mostly these events are co-hosted by external groups/individuals. However, some events are proposed and hosted by some of our “Pigeons” ( coworking or coliving ) such as Dance classes, the fun drama writing nights, time management workshop and some take part as mentors for the start up monthly meetups.
LOCAL COLLABORATIONS
The flexible use of the space is strategic for us to connect with the local community and to build connections with other groups.
Besides co-hosting different events that are open to everyone in the neighborhood. The space is also used by other groups to do their own meetups/ workshops.
Lately the space was used by an animal rights activist group to have their community meetups and by a neighbor who is living in the same building to host her own (church) community meeting.
This way we are building some bridges between the local community and our own in an incremental process. One of our members also proposed hosting a dinner to get to know the neighbors, which we will probably host this year.
Other collaboration happens outside of the space as well. We took part in the Zelterstraßenfest last year, that is happening in the nearby Zelterstr. and is organized by the social project Zelterpate. We try to support other local happenings as much as possible even with small stuff like hanging their posters and inviting our community to participate.
GLOBAL COLLABORATION
It is obvious that we have a very local-focused approach. However, we try to connect with like-minded partners in order to exchange experiences, learn and collaborate on potential projects.
We are not against growth, we are just trying to do it incrementally, consciously and with the right partners in order not to lose our initial spirit.
Last year we started to communicate and build partnerships with other potential partners. We started an initial partnership with Coconat, we could see that we have similar goals in terms of local participation and will probably try to connect both communities in the coming year.
We started building bridges as well with Conscious Coliving, they already have a lot of knowledge in the coliving field and could probably work on a potential project together. Same as edgeryders were Kai took part in one of their workshops on building a community based coliving in Brussels.
HOW TO MOVE FORWARD?
This is what we are trying to figure out. There is no clear plan yet, we have more questions than answers. We are trying to move towards a better integrated living between the local neighborhood and the newcomers and strengthen the bonds between them. At the same time we need to reduce our environmental impact and explore more in sustainable ways of living.
It is a journey and we are trying to consciously move forward towards a better model of coliving which is suitable to Berlin’s local context.
You are welcomed to join us, If you have an idea or want to collaborate on a project with a local social impact, or even if you just want to have a coffee and chat.
3 Years of Happy Pigeons- Part I
A glance on our data
Happy Pigeons started humbly with one apartment in 2017. Currently we have 5 apartments in 2 locations (14 coliving members) and a community/ coworking space with an active coworking community of around 11 coworking members from the neighborhood. Besides some other regular members who join some of our weekly events.
We are staying consciously small, not looking to drastically scale up at the moment. Our aim is to build a small tight community in Berlin and to live and work in a sustainable way while being on the lookout for the right partners/ collaborators.
While we are approaching the end of 2019, we decided to look back at our data in order to understand our community better and to help us see our next steps.
Happy Pigeons’s number of Coliving Apartments Timeline.
As shown in the “Timeline” Happy Pigeons had 2 Appartements in 2017, adding another 2 in 2018 and one in 2019.
Applications
Since we started, we received more than 800 applications. In 2019 alone we received 447 till now (mid October) with an average of 47 applications per month.
The numbers are rapidly increasing as shown in the graph, even for a relatively small coliving space. One can see that the demand for such spaces is increasing rapidly.
Accumulated numbers of coliving applications
Who are the applicants?
People come from all over the world, doing all sorts of things.
It is a reminder that people are different; all have their own journey that they are embarking and for some reason, those who applied, had one thing in common, the need to live in a community and share their life and living space with others in Berlin.
All nationalities of the coliving Applicants in %
Top 12 nationalities of applicants in numbers
Surprisingly the number one nationality is German, followed by Americans, Indians, Italiens, British and Spanish.
Coliving applicants age distribution
However, our applicants are not that diverse in terms of age or marital status, they are mostly young people in their twenties.
The average age is 27, although we had applicants from 18 till 50 years. Most of them are single or not living with their partner.
In a nutshell, our applicants are international, young, and single.
Applications for a “Single room” vs for a “Couples room”
Who are our Coliving-Pigeons?
Our maximum Capacity until now is 14 Coliving-Pigeons. In total since we started we hosted 28 (including the current members)
Our ex-pigeons (Alumni) stayed an average of 7.5 months in house, ranging from 3 to 18 months.
One Pigeon left us to travel then life brought him back again to his nest while 2 of the oldest Pigeons are still staying in their nests. So we have kind of a core stable community with a mix of different individuals, staying mid- and long-term.
As for Coworking, our space is not exclusive to our coliving community members. It is also open for the people in the neighborhood serving as our proxy to get integrated and to build bridges between our small international community and the local community of the neighborhood (more on this in Part 2 of this blog post series).
Currently we have 11 coworkers and hosted already another 23 other coworkers since we started. Our coworkers are mainly freelancers who live nearby and/ or prefer the cozy space where they can have a personal relationship with their coworkers.
Analysis of rents in the neighborhood (Prenzlauer Berg)
We took a look at Data of WG-gesucht, extracting 153 entries on the 23rd of October.
Methodology: The data was scraped out of the available date on the website on that date, manually deleted the short term entries-less than one month- of course this includes all kind of ads, furnished, unfurnished, temporary/ permanent, also scams and other possible fault entries)
The average monthly rent was 520€ (ranging from 250€ To 1100€) and the average size is 20 m2.
According to an old report from the Guardian, Berlin Miete map, analyzing Immobielienscout24 data, average monthly rents for a one Bedroom apartment near Prenzlauer Allee S-bahn station reaches 672€.
Pigeons‘ coliving price breakdown
Our average room is 22 m2 and our average rent in Prenzlauer Berg is 655€. All rents include all bills and utilities, such as operating, heating, electricity and wifi, as well as a weekly cleaning service for the communal areas and a 24 hours access to the coworking space*, located on the ground floor of the same building. Not to mention the “intangible side effects” of living in a welcoming community with different events, gathering, outings...etc.
Our average prices are still within the logical market range and we are trying to cut down our costs to be able to provide better services and build an actual community that is not isolated from the neighborhood.
Summary
There is an increasing demand in coliving of mainly people in their 20s and early 30s from all around the world. However a big part of our applicants are from within Germany.
Happy Pigeons has 14 coliving pigeons with an average stay of 7.5 months. The wider community including coworkers and neighbors reaches +30 persons.
Our average room in Prenzlauer Berg is 22 m2 and costs 655€ with all bills and coworking space included.
In the next part of this blog post series we will discuss in detail how we are trying to connect our small community with the local neighboring community, how our community space is used by different parties and share some of our ideas on how to move forward with Happy Pigeons.
Written by : Hazem, Kai and Marc
*average cost for a coworking (flex) desk in Berlin is 220€ https://coworkingguide.de/coworking/coworking-preise/
Modern Loneliness - Problems of being a Newbie in modern cities
Urbanization and internationalism.
Two words that are not only bringing positive aspects for individuals and the society. When you are trying to find a flat nowadays, for example in Berlin, you will realize pretty fast how complicated this could get. When you also want to live in a flat together with like-minded people, then you will come to the conclusion that this is close to impossible.
Coming to a new cityand culture means a lot of bureaucratic processes and new terms and conditions to learn. Newbies often don’t know where to go, whom to ask or what to do. They are wasting more time on getting their life going then starting to experience the new place! They have less or no time to get to know the culture or the people. That's awful.
And even in the unlikely case that they well find some time during the on-boarding process, they won’t have the city knowledge and expertise at all. A guided city exploration is either very expensive or depends on flatmates or other third parties. Newbies are in a weak position and this caused already negative consequences such as criminal offenses.
Besides the functional problems newbies have to face, there are also emotional challenges. Even though we are more and more connected through digital technology and social media, we have an increasing feeling of loneliness. It’s hard to build meaningful relationships in these fast paced and overcrowded times. People and societies are coming closer and closer physically together, but at the same time we are all moving emotionally away from each other.
During the last two thousand years there have been institutions like the church, which offered a home and a safe harbor for a lot of people. Nowadays the impact of the church is rapidly decreasing at least in Europe, but which community is going to replace that? People are feeling lost and disorientated in the oversupply of information. What helps people to get to know a new city and it’s inhabitants without staying trapped in an “expat” bubble?
Well educated international people, so called Young Professionals, are realizing that they have a big impact on gentrification processes. This means a big struggle for a lot of them and leads to a social segmentation of locals and expats.
We realized this global problem through different experiences. One of our founders learned it in Grenoble during his stay there for his masters degree. Another one discovered itduring his time at the HPI Potsdam while studying Design Thinking and working on innovation projects. Both had very positive experiences and were realizing the importance of a strong community!
We are now ready to come up with solutions for both problems - gentrification and the “being a newbie” - pain. We think there are possibilities to solve that. If you interested in our concept - follow our journey and contact us!
The Happy Pigeons Team