Abstract: Focusing on the question of how people live and interact, co-housing projects, such as “Kraftwerk1”, “Nena1” and others attempt to withdraw imperatives of growth by establishing a new way of life in urban contexts. Some of the projects are closely connected to the ideas of an urban utopia “bolo’bolo” which was written by P.M. in the 1980ies. This ideal of a new way of life describes a concept of "the power of neighborhood” which focuses on social, political, economic and ecological aspects of nutrition, housing, employment and mobility. For some time alternative co-housing projects are now trying to bring this vision into reality. My contribution focuses on the shifting from theory to practice and asks questions like: What are the theoretical and ideal references on which the idea of „the power of neighborhood” is based? How do the projects articulate their ideal of change? And how are they trying to establish and build up an alternative way of life in their real projects?