Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: A Model for the People-Side

[Mark Frauenglass (WORKGROUP/MAILDATA/Mark%Acquilano_Leslie_Inc+p]

>and our question is:  In your experience with planning, designing and
living
>in CoHousing, what are the ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS for establishing a caring,
>viable, energetic, cohesive, joyful community of people....?

Jack, all deep philosophical issues aside, my gut response is ... FOOD!
  Eating together
is the commonest denominator for the diversity of peoples in communities.  I
got to know
more of my neighbors over a bottle of wine and a pizza and got more
connected at potlucks
than any other activity we did.

Yes, the planning, designing and building of our built space and of our
people side did
bring us together (see earlier posts on meetings-r-us syndrome and yuppie
bonding, or was
it bondage?)

I would also add TEAMWORK - not one of us has the time or energy to be in on
every decision.
I have to TRUST that the people who are concerned about an issue will
explore it and make
a beneficial recommendation to the community. And finally, LIVE AND LET
LIVE.  My family's
privacy is important to us.  We don't appreciate the community making rules
for us.

Mark Frauenglass
Highline Crossing
cohousing - living the dichotomy between anarchy and cooperation