Cohousing-L Mailing List: Design Process & Cohousing Community

[Sharon Villines (sharonvillines]

Two thoughts questions:

1. Unless someone is able to design and build a model house or apartment
before units are sold, separating the design process from the recruiting of
households and building of a community is a moot question, because you can't
expect people to sign on without either being assured that they will have a
significant input to the design, or seeing a model.

If there were a model available with all the options clear, then people
would probably go about joining the community the same way they do now--ask
a few questions, attend a few meetings, and jump in.

2. Why is the design process considered different from building community?
How do you build community except around mutual needs? If designing the
living spaces together is not done as a part of building community what is?
Not that designing the units together is a necessary or even desirable part
of the process, but to infer (as is constantly done) that it's value as a
community building activity is lesser than a party or a personal sharing
session seems odd. More controllable and less threatening?

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines, Butler
The MacGuffin Guide to Mystery Fiction
http://www.macguffin.net
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington, DC
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~takomavillag/