Moving to a new city alone can be one of life’s most exciting as well as most challenging experiences. No matter the reason, adjusting to a new environment often comes with major hurdles. Building a new social circle is arguably the largest of these hurdles.
One of the most common reasons for moving to a new city is to start a new job. Often those who make this leap are young, university leavers, for example. Recent statistics show that this age group has become some of the most likely to experience loneliness. One big explanation for this is that since the pandemic, there has been a rise of remote working that has meant around 44% of UK workers now work remotely or on a hybrid basis. For many this means the loss of the workplace as a sure fire and simple way of forming friendships along with readymade sense of belonging
So how do people find connection when you’re new to a city? Increasingly, people are turning to co-working and shared living as ways to rebuild community in modern life.
Co-Working: A Social Alternative to Remote Work
Remote work offers flexibility, but it can also limit day-to-day human contact. Co-working spaces are helping to bridge that gap by combining professional focus with casual sociability.
Working alongside others even if they’re not colleagues can recreate some of the spontaneous connection that’s missing from home-based work. A quick conversation over coffee, sharing equipment, or attending after-hours events can lead to friendships and collaborations that often can’t happen over video calls.
Many co-working spaces offer flexible daily or weekly passes, while others run community events, talks, or networking sessions that can be very valuable opportunities for newcomers to meet people. For those on a tighter budget, local cafés often provide a similar social rhythm by simply being a regular somewhere can help you start recognising familiar faces.
Shared Living: Built for Connection
Shared living, sometimes called co-living, offers more than an affordable place to stay; it plays a vital role in creating everyday opportunities for social interaction. By sharing kitchens, living rooms, and gardens, housemates naturally build relationships through the routines of daily life.
For people moving to a city where they don’t know anyone, this can make the transition smoother and less isolating. You’re surrounded by people who are often in similar situations (new to the area, starting jobs, or studying) which makes forming friendships feel much more natural.
Modern shared living has also evolved to make compatibility easier. Platforms like ours allow renters to learn more about their potential housemates before moving in, helping people find homes that fit their lifestyle, interests, and pace of living.
Shared homes also tend to sit in vibrant, well-connected neighbourhoods in areas where local events, cafés, and community hubs make it easier to extend social networks beyond the house itself.
Combating Loneliness Through Community Design
Studies consistently show that people with stronger social ties experience better mental health, higher wellbeing, and a greater sense of belonging. Shared living and co-working spaces both contribute to this by creating structures that bring people together naturally — not through organised social programmes, but through everyday proximity and shared purpose.
Both models are examples of how housing and working patterns can evolve to reflect modern lifestyles: flexible, mobile, and increasingly independent, but still rooted in the need for connection.
Building a Life, Not Just a Home
Moving to a new city alone will always involve a period of adjustment, but finding your footing socially doesn’t have to be difficult. Shared living and co-working are two simple ways to create opportunities for connection, conversation, and community — three things that turn a new city from somewhere you live into somewhere you belong.
Vann Vogstad, our founder and CEO, says:
“Friendship is a strange thing. When you’re in it, it feels like the easiest, most natural thing in the world. But when you’re looking for it, it can feel impossible. Sometimes, life forces you into situations where friendships are more or less inevitable – such as work, or school – but if we don’t have these things to rely on, we have to create the opportunities for ourselves.
My passion for co-living was born entirely out of my own experience. I left university and moved into a shared house with housemates I didn’t know and it was a genuinely transformative experience. I loved my time in that house and made friends who remain with me to this day. But I also know that I was really fortunate to have this experience because I knew absolutely nothing about my housemates before moving in. They could just as easily have been dreadful people who I had nothing in common with, which is a situation that has become all too prevalent in the world of HMOs because people aren’t given the chance to understand who they are agreeing to live with.
That’s why I created COHO, a platform that enables you to find a house share with people who have the same interests and lifestyles as your own, a platform that is as much about helping you find friends as it is about helping you find a home.”
Moving to a new city alone can be one of life’s most exciting as well as most challenging experiences. No matter the reason, adjusting to a new environment often comes with major hurdles. Building a new social circle is arguably the largest of these hurdles.
One of the most common reasons for moving to a new city is to start a new job. Often those who make this leap are young, university leavers, for example. Recent statistics show that this age group has become some of the most likely to experience loneliness. One big explanation for this is that since the pandemic, there has been a rise of remote working that has meant around 44% of UK workers now work remotely or on a hybrid basis. For many this means the loss of the workplace as a sure fire and simple way of forming friendships along with readymade sense of belonging
So how do people find connection when you’re new to a city? Increasingly, people are turning to co-working and shared living as ways to rebuild community in modern life.
Co-Working: A Social Alternative to Remote Work
Remote work offers flexibility, but it can also limit day-to-day human contact. Co-working spaces are helping to bridge that gap by combining professional focus with casual sociability.
Working alongside others even if they’re not colleagues can recreate some of the spontaneous connection that’s missing from home-based work. A quick conversation over coffee, sharing equipment, or attending after-hours events can lead to friendships and collaborations that often can’t happen over video calls.
Many co-working spaces offer flexible daily or weekly passes, while others run community events, talks, or networking sessions that can be very valuable opportunities for newcomers to meet people. For those on a tighter budget, local cafés often provide a similar social rhythm by simply being a regular somewhere can help you start recognising familiar faces.
Shared Living: Built for Connection
Shared living, sometimes called co-living, offers more than an affordable place to stay; it plays a vital role in creating everyday opportunities for social interaction. By sharing kitchens, living rooms, and gardens, housemates naturally build relationships through the routines of daily life.
For people moving to a city where they don’t know anyone, this can make the transition smoother and less isolating. You’re surrounded by people who are often in similar situations (new to the area, starting jobs, or studying) which makes forming friendships feel much more natural.
Modern shared living has also evolved to make compatibility easier. Platforms like ours allow renters to learn more about their potential housemates before moving in, helping people find homes that fit their lifestyle, interests, and pace of living.
Shared homes also tend to sit in vibrant, well-connected neighbourhoods in areas where local events, cafés, and community hubs make it easier to extend social networks beyond the house itself.
Combating Loneliness Through Community Design
Studies consistently show that people with stronger social ties experience better mental health, higher wellbeing, and a greater sense of belonging. Shared living and co-working spaces both contribute to this by creating structures that bring people together naturally — not through organised social programmes, but through everyday proximity and shared purpose.
Both models are examples of how housing and working patterns can evolve to reflect modern lifestyles: flexible, mobile, and increasingly independent, but still rooted in the need for connection.
Building a Life, Not Just a Home
Moving to a new city alone will always involve a period of adjustment, but finding your footing socially doesn’t have to be difficult. Shared living and co-working are two simple ways to create opportunities for connection, conversation, and community — three things that turn a new city from somewhere you live into somewhere you belong.
Vann Vogstad, our founder and CEO, says:
“Friendship is a strange thing. When you’re in it, it feels like the easiest, most natural thing in the world. But when you’re looking for it, it can feel impossible. Sometimes, life forces you into situations where friendships are more or less inevitable – such as work, or school – but if we don’t have these things to rely on, we have to create the opportunities for ourselves.
My passion for co-living was born entirely out of my own experience. I left university and moved into a shared house with housemates I didn’t know and it was a genuinely transformative experience. I loved my time in that house and made friends who remain with me to this day. But I also know that I was really fortunate to have this experience because I knew absolutely nothing about my housemates before moving in. They could just as easily have been dreadful people who I had nothing in common with, which is a situation that has become all too prevalent in the world of HMOs because people aren’t given the chance to understand who they are agreeing to live with.
That’s why I created COHO, a platform that enables you to find a house share with people who have the same interests and lifestyles as your own, a platform that is as much about helping you find friends as it is about helping you find a home.”
