Expanding community options | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Rob Sandelin (floriferousmsn.com) | |
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 11:59:51 -0800 (PST) |
I re-named this thread started with Robert Moskowitz observations about community and how difficult to form and constrained cohousing can be. There was been an idea going on in Seattle for some time under the banner of neighbor-nets, which was an organization, now subsumed, where people met at local community centers in Seattle Neighborhoods and organized themselves by interests under sort of an open space program. (Open space is a facilitation technique where the participants design the agenda). I attended a couple of these as a resource person and I was impressed with 1) how simple and easy it was to get going, and 2) the participation. It would be easy to create this in almost any area I would think, but it does take some upfront work. I also facilitated the Portland Co-Opportunities Conference which I continue to hear about several years afterwards that it apparently kicked off several intentional households and neighbor connections happening. I recall a weekly cohousing forum at a pizza place that was sponsored by a cohousing person which created a group of people who formed a community by simply all moving into a particular area of town and getting together at each others houses for meals, child activities, movies, etc. So yes, there is third way, (and forth and fifth and....) I believe you can create community around you without having to become a real estate developer. It takes some time and facilitation skill and then advertising. There is a book titled, creating community anywhere, which gives some good ideas as well. Rob Sandelin Naturalist, Writer The Environmental Science School http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm ><((((º>`·..·`·..·`·...><((((º>...·`·..·`·...><((((º>.·`·..·`·...><((((º>.·` ·..·`·...><((((º>·.. ><((((º> ·`·..·`·...·..·`><((((º>.·`·..·`·...><((((º>.·`·..·`·...><((((º>..·`·..·`·.. .><((((º>·.. ·`·..·`·....·`·..·`·...><((((º> -----Original Message----- From: Robert Moskowitz [mailto:robert [at] robertmoskowitz.com] Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 11:29 AM To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org Subject: [C-L]_ Not selecting members in a group OK, I know some people are going to jump down my throat for saying this, but I've gotta say it: Have you ever noticed that there are 100 cohousing groups in the U.S. and 20 million or so non-cohousing groups? I'm talking about organic neighborhoods and developer-constructed neighborhoods and even whole communities (like Play Vista in L.A., near where I live). I've never been happy living among a bunch of strangers where relationships may or may not develop. But I'm thinking that the heavy "group" emphasis of current cohousing and the long-attention-span "group development process" that seems to be a part of cohousing may be more of a burden than: a) most people are willing to accept, and b) we need to create village/neighborhoods where we feel more comfortable than we do among total strangers. What I'm saying, and really asking, is: Isn't there a possibility of developing third way between the kind of random housing choices we have traditionally had and still have in most of America, on one hand, and on the other hand the kind of intensive group experience most cohousing seems to insist on? Shouldn't it be possible for me to find and move into a community, a village, a neighborhood, an apartment or condo building, or whatever, where most of the inhabitants subscribe to certain shared values (environmentalism, tolerance for others, sharing of some resources, sharing a meal once a week or so, helping each other when asked, and so forth) without the need for special architecture, special group processes, group meetings, educational requirements, and other burdensome elements of cohousing as it exists today? Not that I'm a big believer in markets, but clearly there are far more people today willing to live in random housing than are willing to jump through all the hoops to live in cohousing. From a purely practical perspective, if we can find a way to reduce the number of hoops, mightn't we find more people stepping up to live in a friendlier-than-random environment? And if we had more people stepping up, mightn't there be more cohousing slots than there are right now? Happy to hear all your thoughts on this.... Robert Moskowitz Santa Monica, CA _________________________________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at: http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
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Not selecting members in a group Robert Moskowitz, January 27 2007
- Expanding community options Rob Sandelin, January 27 2007
- Re: Expanding community options Shari Rediess, January 27 2007
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Cohousing values in Conventional Condos [Was: Not selecting members in a group] Sharon Villines, January 28 2007
- Re: Cohousing values in Conventional Condos [Was: Not selecting members in a group] byron patterson, January 28 2007
- Re: Not selecting members in a group David Heimann, January 27 2007
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