Cohousing-L Mailing List: intentional communities

[Till Houtermans (tillhout]

        I just read an article in the magazine "Communities" about the 
dicotomy of cohousing vs. intentional communities.  Inorder to dissassociate
the new concept of "cohousing" from the bad hipe that "intentional communities" 
have gotten from the mainstream press (i.e. communes) and inorder to establish
the idea of cohousing as a "valid" form of housing, the term cohousing needed
to have a definition of its own.  The author says however that for all practical
purposes cohousing is"intentional" and that it is a "community."  The fact that 
the term "cohousing" was origianlly trademarked was also a result of
establishing cohousing in its own niche.  In short the difference in terms is 
more of a political difference than any type of defining characteristic.

Till
tillhout [at] ocf.berkeley.edu