Re: Re. Housing Enmasse | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Lynne Farnum (lfburrhus.harvard.edu) | |
Date: Thu, 2 Feb 95 10:11 CST |
Meg wrote: "Sure, we cohousers like to think of ourselves as rather independent neighborhoods within a larger community, self-sufficient and somewhat isolated, buffered by the open space that we have preserved around us from the surrounding ticky tacky." I strongly disagree. This is not the attitude of the cohousers I have met in this area, nor is it the outlook that most people on cohousing-L have expressed. In fact, the vision of cohousing as isolationist, both independent of and "protected" from the surrounding neighborhood, is an image that many of us have worked hard to counteract. Many groups have been hampered by a public perception that what they were proposing was nothing but a yuppie enclave that would turn its back on the rest of the town or city, when in reality the members wanted very much to be part of the larger community. Granted, if the site were bordered by a busy highway, a wastewater treatment plan, or unkempt back yards, one would try to screen those out. But plenty of cohousing communities do not surround themselves with a "moat" of open space; of those I've heard from on cohousing-L, Doyle Street, N Street, Winslow, and Monterey Cohousing come quickly to mind. Just a few days ago someone mentioned a community that built a basketball court near the edge of their property, which has successfully acted as a bridge to the surrounding neighborhood by drawing in local kids who do not live in the cohousing. We should always be careful about assuming what cohousing is like, or what cohousers' motives are, without basing our image on actual experience. Much of the opposition to cohousing (which can make it difficult for groups to get planning board approval) is based on stereotypes ("rich yuppies retreat", "drug-dealing hippy commune"). Few, if any, of the opponents could have seen a coho community. Lynne Farnum
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Re. Housing Enmasse OtisWalker, February 2 1995
- Re: Re. Housing Enmasse Lynne Farnum, February 2 1995
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