Cohousing-L Mailing List: Healthy long term communities

[Rob Sandelin (Exchange) (Robsan]

I wrote: When people get attacked, disregarded, disrespected or just =
ignored consensus doesn't work.

Stu wrote:
It seems to me very unlikely that voting will work under these =
conditions
either.  I mean, a decisionill be made, but it seems to me that
if folks are attacked, their concerns ignored, and then they are =
outvoted,
they are very unlikely to form part of a healthy group long term.

And Rob adds:
I am not sure that cohousing is a very good place to form long term =
groups, there seems no real commitment to that agenda as being what =
cohousing is for.  I think it will be very revealing to examine the =
first wave of cohousing groups at about age 7 or so and see how =
turn-over has effected the groups cohesiveness.  The community forming =
bonds which come from the give and take and process of design and =
development will not likely be present in those who join the turn key =
developed project and so will have to be formed in some other way.=20

If new members don't get much insight into the groups history, and get =
to know people on more than just a slightly more than superficial level, =
then I suspect over time, the groups cohesiveness may decline =
substantially.  As the group gets taken over by people who are =
essentially still strangers,and there is no group commitment to really =
getting to know and understand each other, nor any decision nor process =
which makes this happen, then I suspect much of the benefits of =
cooperative living could fall back on whatever shared site features =
there are.  Perhaps even a conversion of the commonhouse into a more =
condo like recreation center.  (Yeah, we're tearing out the kitchen, can =
you imagine? The people who built this place actually ate dinner =
together!- whew, what a bunch of weirdo's)

I wonder what the ratio of change of community dinner participation is =
over time?  Will those people who move in to built projects participate? =
How much participation is needed in order to maintain the system?  Are =
there trends now in places like Winslow or Muir Commons? =20

Rob Sandelin
Slinging out sociology research thesis questions again
Sharingwood