Globally, commercialized shared housing models are increasingly becoming a vital part of the urban housing landscape. In Tokyo, vacant buildings, particularly detached houses, have been reused for the known as shea hausu since the 2000s. These models contradict the socio-spatial order of the modern nuclear family home as well as the scrap and build logic of Japanese building practices. Existing research has addressed the shea hausu market strategies, designs, and social relations within the shea hausu. However, little attention has been given to the role of digital platforms and private and governmental actors in creating new urban housing markets through interdependent relationships. This dissertation examines in a diachronic manner how shea hausu alter material, spatial, social, and administrative relations in Tokyo. By combining qualitative interviews with network analysis, discourse analysis, and platform analysis, the study discusses the transformation and reevaluation of housing in Tokyo. The shea hausu case study provides insights into the challenges and contradictions of a post-growth society that is confronted with a stressed housing market and demographic changes yet dealing with housing architecture and urban development modes envisioned for a society of urban and economic expansion.
