Re: Church Conversion Retrofit Cohousing Panel for National Conference in NC
From: Kevin Wolf (kevinjwolfgmail.com)
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 19:49:23 -0800 (PST)
Hi all

I think if a community envisions having a common house some day  but
doesn't have the number of member households or the money yet to do so can,
 they should be considered a cohousing community. This should be especially
true if they are cooking for each other in their own households or yards,
sharing stuff, helping each other, making decisions through a consensus
based proess etc   We want more communities to become vibrant cohousing
communities like N Street has become.

In the UK there is growing interested in how retrofit cohousing can help
them convert blocks of existing housing into vibrant communities. there are
thousands of blocks in cities across the country in which half or more of
the homes are abandoned but they can't easily condemn all the housing on
the block and they sell the bock to a "move in all at once" cohousing
group. But the idea that a start up group will buy the abandoned houses,
turn one into a common house and gain rights to buy and first right of
refusal to lease or buy the other units on the block over time, they can
now see converting these blocks into cohousing communities.

These blocks of housing are not designed by the members. They often don't
meet classic cohousing architectural design ideals,  but they can thrive as
communities because of the members, their goals, principles, and practices.

I encourage us to broaden our definition of cohousing communities and
encourage more experimentation and ways to create these communities.

Kevin

On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 11:29 AM, Elizabeth Magill <pastorlizm [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> Having "forged a social dynamic" as one of the developers of a community
> that was less than half full at the end of construction....
>
> And now creating new community that includes everyone...
>
> I think that "you must design" is highly over-rated. To be clear I loved
> doing it.
>
> But you can't do it with a huge group, and it creates a social dynamic
> that ends up feeling ownership of design decisions which were not all
> perfect. And its harder to be inclusive of everyone if one third of the
> folk always remember what we were "going to do back in the day".
>
> I'm not arguing against groups designing their own space, just against the
> idea that that is BEST.
>
> Its just different in my view.
>
> -Liz
> (The Rev.) Elizabeth M. Magill
> www.worcesterfellowship.org
> www.mosaic-commons.org
> 508-450-0431
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 12, 2014, at 1:47 PM, R Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> wrote:
>
> >
> > True in its way, but … As the founders cycle away (and they all will),
> and newcomers rotate in, what the newcomers are buying, at that point, is
> not the architectural vision, but rather an established social dynamic …
> which, as you correctly point out, they will soon start to influence (we
> hope).  But the shared experience of designing and developing a project
> forges a day one social dynamic that cannot be readily simulated by
> strangers moving in among strangers and saying “Hi, how do YOU think we
> should do cohousing?”
> >
> > RPD
> >
> > PS: I used to do residential design and construction, mostly for married
> couples, and either they decided that designing one’s own home was one of
> the great adventures of their lives, or they got divorced.
> >
> > Arizona weather can’t be beat.
> >
> >> On Nov 12, 2014, at 1:24 PM, Mary Ann Clark <drmaryann49 [at] mac.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Mary Ann here:
> >> But isn't it true that everyone who joins the community after the
> founders has to live with someone else's vision of what the community will
> be like?
> >>
> >> Isn't also true that every new member changes the dynamics of the
> community, so even the vision of the founders isn't stable?
> >>
> >> Mary Ann, Manzanita Village where we're enjoying warm days and cool
> night -- sorry those of you in the mid-west and further east.
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >
>
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