Sharing walls with people is one of the best things we can do for our health, our carbon and our streets. But it doesn't happen by accident. It happens when the shared parts are run well, and right now they mostly aren't. We're trying to fix that, and we need your help.
The research on this is unusually clear. Density done well is better for our health, our emissions and our neighbourhoods than the alternative.
Holt-Lunstad et al., PLOS Medicine (2010) — 148 studies, 300,000+ people, 7.5-year average follow-up
Goldstein et al., PNAS (2020) — ~93 million American homes
Ivanova & Büchs, Energies (2020)
None of it is automatic. Walkable, dense places only turn into communities when the shared parts (the lobby, the courtyard, the decisions) are looked after.
“The body corporate won't let you do that.” We hear it constantly — owners talking about their own building as though it belonged to somebody else. It doesn't. A group of owners in a building is the body corporate. There is no one else.
You shouldn't have to ask to see where your levies went. You shouldn't need a weeknight free to have a vote. And the answer to a good idea shouldn't be “no” — it should be “what would it take?”
We're two people rethinking the way shared buildings should be run. We've read the research and we've sat through the AGMs, but neither of those is the same as living in your building. Tell us what works, what doesn't, and what you'd never put up with again.
Michael Dowse
Co-founder
Matt Cowley
Co-founder
Or email us directly at hello@quarter.nz.