Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: New Urbanism and CoHousing

[Kevin Wolf (kjwolf]

At 09:31 AM 10/21/97 -0500, you wrote:
>>
>>1.  Built Consciousness.  By this I mean a shared experience which
>>builds a common set of understandings and sense of history leading to
>>a sense of ownership in the place.
>
>And how on earth do you propose to help this "built consciousness"
>survive the typical patterns of migration, let alone generational
>succession, that typify contemporary America ? What happens to this
>"built consciousness" when only 10% of the people with the shared
>experience are left ?
>
>Communities built around shared experience are short-term. Communities
>built around good social/architectural/ecological/economic design can
>take a shot at being long term.
>
N Street has been around for ten years. We have always had a significant
percentage of renters who stay an average of a couple of years and then
move on.  We have few of the original inhabitants, and if those of us who
were here at the beginning left, the community would continue to be strong.
 New people can quickly become an important part of our community if they
want to put in the time and responsibility.  Yes our
social/architectural/ecological/economic design is functional, and we will
continue to strengthen these over time.  I agree with Rob though that the
people and the relationships they forge are fundamental.  One of the many
things we've learned over time here is that the new people moving in are
one of the best things happening in our community.

Kevin
Kevin Wolf & Associates    - Consensus Facilitation
724 N Street               - Water On-Line Project
Davis, CA 95616            - Strategic and Watershed
kjwolf [at] dcn.davis.ca.us       Planning
Phone 916-758-4211         - Director, Bizline, Inc.
Fax   916-758-2338           http://www.bizline.com

http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/go/kjwolf