Cohousing-L Mailing List: Unsuccessful coho groups

[Kevin Day (daykevi]

Hi folks!  I've been lurking on this list for a few months now.  I am a
graduate student doing some research on cohousing, community, and civic
participation (broadly defined, not just voting).  I am in a research
seminar (with Bob Putnam, who wrote "Bowling Alone" and "The Decline of
Civic America" in the American Prospect) with other students who are looking
at ways in which social networks and values that lead to greater civic
engagement can be precipitated (and by civic engagement I mean working on
issues that concern the greater community, not just immediate
personal/family needs).  Essentially, this is the political science approach
to the problem of the disappearance of community, along with the theory that
"community" is vital for effective government function. I am trying to do
some measuring of how much one's investing energy, time, and money in a
cohousing project leads to greater civic participation.   In order to do so,
however, I need a group of persons with varying levels of "investment"
(including time and energy, not just $).  Therefore, I am asking if there
are any readers of this list who have tried to form a cohousing group but
have failed, or were interested but unable to join for some reason.  So if
there are any such persons, I would LOVE to hear from you and send you a
short (I promise!) survey to fill out via e-mail.  Thanks so much for your
time and I've immensely enjoyed the discussions on this list.

Sincerely, 

Kevin (future cohouser....?) 
Kevin W. Day
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
daykevi [at] ksg.harvard.edu