Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Harry's Rules

[J . Massengale (J.Massengale]

>* No garages---instead parking lot at periphery of neighborhood.
>* No roads for autos---instead just a driveway off main roadway into parking
lot.
>* 8 foot wide, foot paths connect parking lot to homes and shared buildings
and spaces.

I'd be interested to know some of your "scientific" reasons for building
community this way. My experience leads me to think that it would actually
weaken the community by weakening the communal space. An 8' wide footpath has
a private feel to it.

They do this in Germany, where I've worked, and people do not seem to feel
that the space is one in which to linger and talk to their neighbors.

There are ways to do it of course, but it takes you back to an almost
medieval model that few North Americans want to live in. We expect a certain
minimum in the house-to-house distance from front to front.

Like several of your proposals for inexpensive housing, this strikes me as an
extreme one that would severely hurt resale values -- and thereby increase
the owner's overall cost.