Cohousing-L Mailing List: virtual cohousing/community building?

[Miles R. Fidelman (mfidelman]

Hi Folks,

I've been thinking about cohousing for a while, but am not quite in a
position to get involved yet.  Also, after having several friends go
through the process with varying degrees of success (or lack thereof),
I've been left wondering if there are other ways to build community
short
of a full cohousing development.

In particular, I live in Charlestown, MA, which has roughly 14,000
people
(5000 households) in about 1.5 square miles.  I've begun to wonder if,
out
of all these folks who are within walking distance:

- there are 20 or so households that might, under other circumstances,
be
an ideal group for a cohousing project

- if so, how do we find each other?

- if so, are there things we could do that bring many of the benefits of

cohousing without having to develop a whole new community - ranging from

getting together regularly for meals, to renting/buying/building a
common
facility akin to the common areas of a cohousing development (I'd love
to
have a place to drop into within walking distance - for meal sharing,
conversation, whatever)

Has anybody else thought about or tried anything like this?  Have any
cohousing umbrella groups had something like this emerge?  Is there
anybody in this area who'd like to try something like this?

Miles Fidelman