What is cohousing? It is sometimes called sustainable housing. Here is a description from the website of the project.
Cohousing is a type of collaborative housing that attempts to overcome the alienation of modern subdivisions where few people really get to know their neighbors. It is characterized by private dwellings with their own kitchen, living-dining room, bedrooms, etc, but also extensive common facilities. This type of housing began in Denmark in the late 1960s, and spread to North America in the late 1980s. There are now more than a hundred co-housing communities completed or in development across the United States and Canada.
Cohousing communities balance the traditional advantages of home ownership with the benefits of shared common facilities and ongoing connections with neighbors. These cooperative neighborhoods are among the most promising solutions to many of today's most challenging social and environmental concerns.
Cohousers are united by a mutual desire to live an environmentally sound lifestyle and enjoy a cooperative, intergenerational neighborhood. They value energy and resource efficient design, good architecture and natural beauty. Cohousers have no common political or religious orientation.
I was very impressed with the people interviewed, and why they wanted to live in this type of community. Folks park their car outside the community and walk to their dwelling. The farm is central to the community. I was even impressed to find out that some people paid more for their units so that other units could be offered to low income families with small children or farmers who could not afford the cost of the homes.It truly impressed me that people, who are not necessarily Christians are taking seriously developing community and avoiding the pitfalls of the American lifestyle.
One man summed it up nicely when asked what he is giving up to live in the cohousing community. He said, I am giving up not knowing my neighbors and living an individualistic lifestyle where I pull my car in my garage after a day of work and ignore the people who live around me.
What do you think?
2 comments:
Hi, Jason, glad you liked the cohousing vision. There are actually some regular tours of communities in Eastern and Western MA, and a couple of new ones are under development in the middle (Berlin). 93 are completed, with 107 under development, last time we counted. As you noted, most are interfaith/nondenominational/not explicitly spiritual in intent, but they do tend to have a lot of common values around simplicity, living green, building community, and I've seen leadership emerge from various faith-based groups. There are some (like Bartimaeus cohousing in Washington state and Temescal Commons in Oakland, CA) that do have a more-central focus on a particular set of religious practices or values, and I see this type of community as one of the areas of growth for the movement in the future.
Raines, at Berkeley (CA) cohousing; grew up in MA and now serve on the national Cohousing Association board. We're looking at the region for a national conference, based on interest from so many forming and existing communities there.
The TV program also mentioned a cohousing arrangement called Cobb Hill in VT. Very impressive as well. It is up and running. Thanks for the comment!
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