1 INTRODUCTION Until the Second World War was common for resi- dents and business owners in the city to build one or more houses for private occupation or pension pro- vision. The city was built ' step by step ' and ' brick by brick '. Each resident and entrepreneur realized their residentials wants, resulting in the current Dutch inner cities, full of variety and surprises, where citizens like to stay, work and/or live. It is a reflection of the way of living (together) and of soci- ety (Baas, e.a. 2015). Since the mid-20th century a supply-driven development model for housing is the common practice in the Netherlands. This was strengthened by the development of the large-scale VINEX projects in the 90 's. Although the supply- oriented development form has resulted in reducing the quantitative housing shortage, there was little regard for the wishes of citizens. Because insuffi- cient attention was paid to the various living re- quirements of the customers, this supply oriented development became more and more criticised. In response to that, the government stated in a their pol- icy document : Wonen in het jaar 2000”: ‘Mensen, wensen, wonen, (Ministerie van Vrom, 2000, p6) that demand driven development will be encouraged. One of the five core themes in this document has the slogan ' Citizens first ' (Ministry of VROM , 2000, p6 ) The citizen is central in the housing policy .This refers mainly to citizens as producers’ and not Dutch experiment in co-creation in a Collectively Commissioned Housing project. ir. T.T. Veeger University of Technology Eindhoven Department of the Built Environment chair of of Architectural Design and Engineering, Eindhoven Netherlands ir. S.J.E. Maussen University of Technology Eindhoven Department of the Built Environment chair of of Real Estate, Eindhoven Netherlands ABSTRACT: Only a small percentage of the new homes built in the Netherlands in the last decades have been built by private commissioning (11.2 % in 2012, www.statline.cbs.nl). The major players in the Dutch housing market are the commercial developers and the social housing corporations, the latter focuses mainly on the segment of tenants in the lower income category. This contrasts greatly with neighbouring countries like Belgium and Germany. The percentage of social housing is very low in Belgium; more than three quarters of the Flemish people own their own individual house and the development of large-scale housing projects is limited. In both Belgium and Germany, the role of the architect is strongly geared towards the practice of pri- vate commissions. It is also a statutory requirement for a client to hire an architect in both countries. This dif- fers significantly to the situation in the Netherlands where the architect focuses mainly on the design of large- scale housing projects. The Dutch Government policy is currently geared towards the encouragement of pri- vate commissioning and wants to achieve a significant growth in the segment of Individual project develop- ment (IPD) and collectively commissioned housing development (CCHD). (30% of the new homes built in a year) A CCHD project is a building project with self-management: a group of several clients work together to acquire a (construction) site, hire an architect and select the contractor who executes the project. In most cas- es, the clients are also the future residents of the housing development. Developing a collective housing pro- ject means that shared parts such as the facade, foundation and community facilities are collectively designed in consultation with the group, while the individual clients still have much freedom of choice in the design of their own home. This has consequences for the professional role of Dutch architects and the way they react to the changing role of their clients. The design methodology and attitude of the architect in the design process in a CCHD project is very different to the traditional way in which a Dutch architect works. In addition to his de- sign qualities, his organizational and social skills also become important in order to adequately deal with a collective group of 20 or 30 clients. This paper describes the process of developing a CHD project and a case study where an architect has experimented with the evolving design process and the (im)possibilities of co- creation in Collectively Commissioned Housing projects.