Cohousing-L Mailing List: Levels (markers) of community.

[Mark Ottenberg (mao]

Greetings All:
I snipped this from another email message i received elsewhere.  I find this
a useful conceptualization and decided to share it.

>
>I have been thinking of a progression of relationships for a "Neighborhood
>to Nation" effort.  

The first level, common in some places I've lived and
>absent in others, is "familiarity" - you know your neighbors' names and
>maybe a little more, like what they do for a living.  

The next level would
>be "sharing" - from sugar to concerns, maybe even babysitting.  

The next
>level would be "creation" - neighbors make things together.  Could be
>gardens or community projects of some kind, such as our atlas.  

>The next level
>would be "governance", which to me would include a recognition that all
>issues no matter how global both begin and end right at home; design
>thinking and practice; and a level of maturity which affords that community
>/ neighborhood the ability to engage in sharing / creation / governance with
>other communities who have achieved a similar level of maturity.      
>
Looks like we cohoers are in it deep!

                                        -- Mark