[ woonruimte coöperatief ]

Woonruimte Coöperatief (WR) is a non-profit cooperative supporting the development and participatory co-production of affordable housing through bottom-up initiatives. As mentioned above, Woonruimte Coöperatief works on two main goals: co-developing affordable housing together with future inhabitants, and offering a space for dialogue, creation and meeting others in the cooperative sector.
We work on the process management of housing projects that are built on community-led development, of which de Wooncoöperatie de Nieuwe Meent (dNM) was our first pilot. Moreover, as a part of dNM in Amsterdam-Oost, we run a collaborative space where people can meet, work, create, and gather.

Woonruimte is home to a coworking space, an event venue, and Noon Coffee and Culture. As the manager of the non-housing spaces of dNM, Woonruimte serves as its most public interface with the neighborhood and the city at large. It was founded to create a collaborative hub where knowledge about housing cooperatives is shared among cooperatives, experts, and all users who want to know more and experiment with the format

As the cooperative movement continues to grow in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, we provide a permanent place where knowledge is shared and collaborations can emerge. Our events focus on housing, collective ownership, community-led development and other forms of participatory collaborative design.

Through screenings, workshops, talks, and meetups, we create opportunities for collective learning between spatial practitioners, researchers, residents (Citizen Professionals), and cultural workers. One of our goals (and that of WR founders Time to Access) is to break the barrier between experts and users, moving from a vertical relationship into a horizontal and democratic one, recognizing everyone’s knowledge and potential. By bringing together professional expertise and lived experience, we explore alternative ways of co-producing, governing, and inhabiting the city.

Woonruimte Coöperatief operates at the intersection of architecture, social design, cultural production and civic organizing. As we learned with co-designing and co-producing dNM, housing cooperatives are not only an alternative housing model, but also a design practice through which residents collectively shape the social and physical environments they inhabit.

It was founded by architecture office Time to Access and financial advisor Kantelingen. Together, they advise and help emerging cooperatives to realize their project, whether that concerns a handful of people, or a large-scale housing complex of over 130 people.

We host regular, (almost) weekly events that gather an audience composed of people from the neighborhood and people interested in our “cooperative” focus, mainly from Amsterdam but also beyond. We are also often visited by international researchers and practitioners who find inspiration in de Nieuwe Meent and in our activities. The events currently follow four series, with more to come in the future.

Woonruimte Coöperatief is an open platform: organizations are regularly invited to host events independently and to experiment outside their regular activities. Together with local groups and cooperatives, from housing coops to energy and food coops, we create a space that is built on a shared vision of sustainable and inclusive living.

All events are free of charge, although donations are appreciated. Each event happens once a month.

Common Ground: A roundtable (or roundcarpet) storytelling event in collaboration with MC Chide Ebere.

Coop Cafe: A stage for housing coops and cooperative organizations to discuss dear themes and share knowledge.

FilmHuis: A screening series about the right to housing in all its dimensions in collaboration with artist Nienke Terpsma.

Platform Middenmeer: A stage for local neighborhood organizations in collaboration with Gebiedsmakelaar Karien Kooiman, Stadsdeel Oost Gemeente Amsterdam.

See all events also on the calendar of Amsterdam Alternative here
or click in the calendar below

Woonruimte Coöperatief manages four interconnected spaces within de Nieuwe Meent. These spaces are used by us, but are also available for rent to various organizations. Social initiatives are able to use the space for free. To guarantee this, we ask other organizations a solidarity rental fee that is dependent on the scale of the company.

For example, in the weekends we host Arabic and Tigrinya classes for kids, as well as working group meetings for de Nieuwe Meent. Next to that, emerging cooperatives like In Eigen Handen use the space to meet and share thoughts.

Download the rental brochure here

All photos by Rubén Dario Kleimeer.

For inquiries for the event space, you can contact:
Sobhi Khatib
events@nooncoffeeculture.nl
0634387330

For inquiries for the other spaces, you can contact:
Andrea Verdecchia
andrea@timetoaccess.com
0625574593

Woonruimte Coöperatief was founded in 2025 by architecture office Time to Access and financial advisor Kantelingen.
Our aim is to grow in the long-term and to become a diverse team of organizers, designers, legal, financial and cooperative advisors.

At the moment, we share the space with:
Co-productief: cooperative financial advise
MeerEnergie: energy cooperative realizing a district heating network in Watergraafsmeer
Stroomversnellers: training and coaching for citizen organizations
Federico Savini: degrowth teacher and researcher at the Urban Planning department of UvA
Selçuk Balamir: post-doc researcher on post-fossil fuel societies at UvA and co-initiator of de Nieuwe Meent
Niels Jongerius: cooperative advisor at Stichting !WOON and co-initiator of de Nieuwe Meent