Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: housing enmasse

[areinert (areinert]

On Wed, 1 Feb 1995, Blake F. Cullimore wrote:
> 
> I am a College student that has been studying the concepts that cohousing 
> is based on and have seen two groups in action.  One that is looking for 
> a location and one that moved in a year ago.  In our design class we have 
> focused on the values that make this system work and how it relates to 
> the design of the community.  In the last week we have decided on a site 
> and have been given the requirements of developing a community that is a 
> 170 units on a 25 acres.  The site is a dune scrub community within a 
> small town with single family homes around the site.  The site also has a 
> major runoff system and perrenial flood zone running through it. I am of 
> the opinion that the design of such a community would do injustice to the 
> values that create a well founded and functioning community.  
> 
> Can a housing development have 170 units even if clustered?  Is this a 
> mass subdivision in a politically correct disguise? Can a sense of 
> community be developed in such circumstances?
> 
> blake cullimore
> 
Hmm.  I don't think that something that large could be "cohousing" 
community in the sense of a small group of households defining and 
operating it cooperatively.  It could be a real nice small town to live 
in though, the sort of natural neighborly small town (bigger than a 
village) that we hope cohousing is a deliberate recreation of.  But it 
couldn't be cohousing in the details of, oh, 100's to dinner and forums 
and meetings.  And the grounds meeting over trying deal with and 
ameliorate the terrible site would probably tear it up anyway.

Gee.  I guess that means No.