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.