Re: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Larry Israel (lisrael![]() |
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Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 00:56 CDT |
Hi, everyone. I'm Larry Israel of Puget Ridge Cohousing in Seattle. For the past several months I've been thoroughly enjoying cohousing-l's wonderful blend of practical information from people living in cohousing already (and others), with philosophical musings on the meaning of cohousing. (The following message falls into the latter category). By the way, major congratulations and celebrations are occurring: 8 households closed and moved in to Puget Ridge last month, and 11 more households (including my own) and the common house are scheduled to close/open next week! The final 4 units are due to close in early Sept., I think. HOORAY! ********************************************* On Mon, 11 Jul 1994, Sandy Bodzin wrote: > Can anyone please explain the difffernece between an intentional > community and a cohousing community? To me, there are several key differences between intentional communities and cohousing communities: 1. Intentional communities usually have some sort of economic base that is shared; some sort of communal means of support, or partial support. Not so with cohousing, at least not yet. 2. Intentional communities usually have either a shared philosophy, shared religious/spiritual beliefs and practices, and/or a single central leader. Cohousing communities usually have none of these. Therefore, cohousing communities are usually not concerned that their members have similar views, beyond some very loosely defined values. The process of new member "selection" is therefore less rigorous, less controlled, in cohousing. Usually the process is one of "self-selection", in other words anyone who wants to can join. 3. Cohousing has more extensive private spaces than most intentional communities, with each household (or family) having their own complete housing unit. This is usually not the case within intentional communities. I admit that I am making some major generalizations in the above descriptions, particularly of intentional communities, and that, as has been well stated in other responses on this topic, intentional communities are quite diverse -- more diverse in type and character, so far, than are cohousing communities. Will there be as many types of American cohousing communities 25 years from now as there are intentional communities today? Also, I agree with Till Houtermans (July 13) that cohousing has attempted to distance or dissociate itself from intentional communities (a.k.a. communes) because of the negative ways in which the latter are viewed by the mainstream society. I agree with Rob Sandelin that there is a lot that we cohousers can learn from intentional communities. And I agree with Judy Baxter (July 12) that cohousing is a subset, one type of intentional community (I like the term "intentional neighborhood"), although cohousing is a form of intentional community with some important differences from others.
- Re: RE: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing, (continued)
- Re: RE: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing Lynne Farnum, July 13 1994
- RE: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing Rob Sandelin, July 13 1994
- RE: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing Don Maddox, July 13 1994
- RE: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing David Thomasson, July 13 1994
- Re: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing Larry Israel, July 20 1994
- Re: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing Fred H Olson WB0YQM, July 21 1994
- Re: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing Rob Sandelin, July 21 1994
- Re: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing Rob Sandelin, July 21 1994
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