Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Community & Architecture

[Gordon (weil]

Hello,

I would like to throw 2 cents into the discussion on community and architecture.
I find it extremely refreshing to hear Rob talk about co-housing communities 
that fail at creating a sense of community.  It fills a void, a feeling of doubt
that has nagged me since I first heard of Co-housing.  Co-housing is an exciting
idea, a wonderful opportunity for a new tradition of community.  But if 
Co-housing does become a tradition of community, it will result from a focus on 
community and not on land acquisition and house construction. 

I agree with Rob.  I also want to add that community can be a fragile thing that
waxes and wanes. I live in a community that changes people more than a 
co-housing community would.  But with all the changes that happen I know that 
community needs all the help it can get.  It needs attention and nurturing, as 
Rob points out.  It doesn't come out of just doing lots of work together.  

So much depends on the shared as well as the isolated understandings of the 
group.  Many people don't grasp the fundamentals of cooperation, communication, 
and mutual support that intentional communities require.  In spite of our 
emphasis on community, we find these people in our communities anyway.  The 
strength of a community often depends on a few individuals who can model 
community for the rest.  And the weakness of a community lies in those who are 
still growing into an understanding of community and human relationships.  Every
community has its weakness.  Every community has its strength.  Architecture can
facilitate the strengths.  Intelligent norms and social skills do much more.  In
my opinion a pervasive principle of personal growth is the best strength a 
community can have.

In my own community we have a non-business meeting almost every month.  There we
talk about visions of the future, the strength of the community, improving our 
relationships, the state of our lives.  These things get discussed informally 
anyway, but the attention we give to it during this one meeting each month helps
to strengthen everyone's recognition of the importance of community.  And those 
who are not part of the most vibrant core because they lack the time or the 
initiative or social acceptance get brought into those discussions during the 
meetings too.  I think that it is important to make regular attempts like this 
to turn the collective attention onto the health of the community, exposing its 
strengths and weaknesses.

- Gordon Weil
Omega House