Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: What is a cohousing community?

[John Major (jmajor]

Chuck and Katy have a pretty good multi-point definition of CoHousing
that you could use to filter those folks who want to put pointers on
the web page - or perhaps you can put the pointers in, but put them
in a section called "other intentional communities", or some such.

One of the most important differences for me between CoHo and other
forms of community is its relationship to the mainstream. Given that
while CoHo is out on the periphery of housing options in this
country, it does face "inward". That is, it is trying to present a 
model to the rest of the culture that the culture could adopt
immediately, given the right conditions. Hence the lively discussions
on diversity - CoHo for grad students, CoHo for low-income residents,
CoHo for stockbrokers. I feel that many other kinds of community,
particularly those based on spiritual foundations, are looking
"outward" - they are enacting a future that the rest of the culture
may some day catch up with, but they are certainly not going to waste
anytime marketing themselves to the mainstream.

John Major
Wasatch CoHousing
jmajor [at] mhz.com