The First Hybrid Co-living in Europe: Redefining Community Living

In a nutshell:

In this article, we’ll explore the fundamental difference between the main co-living models, and how Kalart has created its own category. You’ll learn how this unique model can benefit you, and how you can also contribute to keeping this formula a continued success.

Time to read article: 8 min.

Two Co-living Worlds: Mainstream and Rural

The global co-living sector has evolved around two main currents.

On one side, there are mainstream co-livings, usually located in big cities and oriented toward digital nomads seeking urban dynamism, convenience, and a more fast-paced lifestyle. These spaces are typically managed by large operators: the owners are investors, not residents, and day-to-day life is run by directors, community managers, and hired teams. Although functional and professional, their orientation is shaped by business logic.

On the opposite end, rural or alternative co-livings attract a different profile: nomads looking for nature, calm, and a more human sense of community. In these projects, founders are usually present, living on-site or nearby, and actively participating in the daily life of the place. This creates a more authentic and close-knit experience, similar to what Airbnb once was when people still shared real homes with local inhabitants—before the platform became a marketplace of anonymous apartments and automated check-ins.

The Birth of a Hybrid Model: Phase One

Kalart emerged precisely from observing these two realities and the desire to create something different. After travelling the world and living in multiple intentional communities, artist residencies, and co-livings, its founders identified both the potential and the challenges of deep community living: emotional management, relational harmony, and the rhythms of coexistence.

The intuition was clear: combine the best of three worlds:

• the stability and authenticity of intentional communities
• the creative effervescence of artist residencies
• and the flexible structure of co-living,

creating a formula that allows for deep yet sustainable, accessible, and adaptable community life.

The result is the first hybrid co-living known in Europe: a space where founders, long-term residents, and digital nomads live together horizontally—without hierarchies implemented through external staff or entertainment dynamics designed by hired professionals.

Phase Two: Creating a Mixed Coexistence Ecosystem

One of the most unique aspects of the model is the balanced coexistence between people staying for one month and those who have lived there for more than a year.

Kalart currently hosts 16 people:

• Around 40% are short-term digital nomads (between 1 and 6 months)
• 60% are long-term residents who have been there between 1 and 2 years.

This equilibrium creates a particular dynamism:

Long-term residents are deeply integrated in the Montseny valley, where the project is located. They work there, participate in the cultural and social life of the area, and serve as a bridge between the co-living and the local community.

Short-term guests bring new energy, perspectives, cultures, creativity, and synergy potential. They are, metaphorically speaking, “new landscapes” that refresh, transform, and enrich the life of the group.

This dual structure fosters strong, deep, organic relationships—especially when many short-term guests decide to become long-term residents.

A Model Proven Successful Through Real Data

Kalart doesn’t just work in theory, the numbers speak for themselves.

• 73% of digital nomads who arrive for one month end up extending their stay. They come intending to stay 30 days and eventually remain 2, 3, 6 months or more.
• A significant percentage transitions from short-term to long-term when availability allows, fully integrating into community life in the valley.
• Around 27% of long-term residents, after completing their stage at Kalart, decide to move permanently to the Montseny valley. They look for their own home, a more intimate project, or a place in the village, but remain part of Kalart’s “extended family”.
• 10% of former long-term colivers go on to start their own community project, whether in the form of a co-living, a community, a residency, or new alternative hybrid formats. In these cases, Kalart’s founders may also become involved or support the process through mentoring.

Today, between 15 and 20 people who once lived at Kalart now reside as neighbors in the valley, participating in events, gatherings, and activities, reinforcing connections beyond the project’s walls.

This phenomenon, unusual and practically nonexistent in other European co-livings, is clear evidence of the emotional, social, and human impact generated by this hybrid formula.

A Horizontal and Organic Community

The model rejects the figure of the hired community manager.There are no paid professionals to entertain colivers or guests, nor activities imposed from the top down.

Instead:

• The founders are present
• Long-term residents naturally support newcomers
• And there is even an organic system where each long-term resident accompanies a short-term guest during their first month, helping with onboarding and authentic integration.

This creates a horizontal, caring, voluntary, and deeply human community.

A Unique Project in Europe

The combination of all these elements, present founders, mixed profiles, hybrid structures, long-lasting bonds, deep relationships, territorial integration, and the absence of vertical staff, has given rise to a model which, after six years of evolution, exists nowhere else on the continent.

Kalart is not just a rural co-living; it is a place to live, a space where people arrive, transform, connect… and sometimes decide to stay forever.