Zurich is a centre of global finance. Its real estate influences not only the rise of rent and property prices but also methods of extracting value from housing and residents. Switzerland’s largest city also has a century-old commitment to public benefit and non-profit housing, implemented through a cooperative model of sharing resources. Cooperatives, in fact, have been at the forefront of architectural and urban design innovation. Through an original reading of contemporary and historic projects, this primer makes tangible the interplay between architectural, regulatory, and financial instruments in housing. In doing so, aspects of Zurich’s model become transferrable to other places.