Abstract
In this paper the author describes the phenomenon of collaborative housing, provides its definition, historical outline, systematics and variants, and presents selected examples of this kind of housing from Western European countries (Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands), where collaborative housing has been successfully developing at least since the 1970s. This paper, together with the paper that follows it, entitled: “Collaborative Housing Perspectives. Potential, Barriers and Legal Possibilities in the Polish Conditions”, constitutes a monographic study of the problem of collaborative housing in Poland. This paper constitutes part one of the study.