Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Community Size: Number of people

[David L. Mandel (75407.2361]

In reply to your query, Rob, and to others weighing the question.

I am negatively inclined toward anyone who tries to say what an optimum size is.
The most important factor by far is the desire of the initial core group
founding the community. Different groups will have widely diverging preferences,
depending on, among other things, individual tastes, guiding goals of the group,
level of communal commitment, desire for practical economies of scale vs. desire
for interpersonal closeness, etc. 

Then of course there are the limitations that come with particular sites and
laws and ordinances. My personal bias is toward aiming for the large end of the
range in which you think you'd feel comfortable. A large part of the practical
reasons for cohousing is to share resources, tools and facilities, and the more
there are, the better this works. Even for those who are hesitant to expand
because they want closer personal ties with their neighbors, I'd ask: What if
you end up not liking some of them? If there aren't very many, you may be stuck,
but if there is a larger pool of residents, it's more likely that you will find
at least some close friends.

I've often heard a bias in cohousing discussions against large groups of more
than 30 or 40 households. But I've heard from a number of people who wish their
communities were larger, while I've never heard anyone say the opposite. Also,
as I've written before here, my experiences on kibbutzim with hundreds or even
1,000+ residents give me a different perspective. True, they are much more
collective (though becoming less so), but the nicest thing about them is the
feeling of community similar to an atmosphere I've rediscovered in cohousing.
There are some real differences of scale, but with appropriate adjustments, I
see no reason why there couldn't be wonderfully comfortable North American
cohousing villages that large as well.

Will someone take up the challenge?

David Mandel, Southside Park Cohousing, Sacramento (25 households, 67 people and
happy but sometimes wishing we were bigger)