Re: Is the term Cohousing hurting us?
From: Fred H Olson WB0YQM (fholsonmaroon.tc.umn.edu)
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 95 11:21:57 CST
This message is from Fred !

I completely agree with Pablo's recent post on this subject
to the effect that the term cohousing is on balance
"helping more than it is hurting".

So I'll keep my post on the subject short (er).

When I first heard the term I was not particularly pleased with it
but I've grown to accept if not like it.  Recent correspondence
with  Ole Svensson of the Danish Building Research Institute 
Ole Swensen in Denmark indicates that the term predates the
McCammant and Durret book in 1988 which I didn't realize:

"The word "cohousing" is not coined by McCamant and Durrett as 
they are said to claim. The word has emerged in discussions 
between people from many nations, including Danes of course."

Lately I am finding more and more people outside the cohousing 
movement know the term -- as Pablo points out this is very 
useful.  But I have found cases where I ask if a person if they 
are familiar with the term cohousing, they say yes but later I find 
they had it confused with something else so be cautious.

For the same reasons I prefer the term "Retrofit Cohousing"
to refer to cohousing like communities built with existing housing
ala N Street.  I feel this is much more specific and useful
than "Urban Cooperative Block" as was used in the book _Rebuilding 
Communities_ and the related article in the last issue of Cohousing 
Magazine.

BTW I'm very glad that we tacked on the "-L" (which I pronounce
Cohousing dash L ) to refer to this discussion.  It greatly facilitates
references to the discussion list rather that the subject of cohousing.
I regret that the Cohousing Magazine suffers from this naming 
confusion.

Fred

--
Fred H. Olson   fholson [at] uci.com   (612)588-9532  Amateur radio: WB0YQM
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