Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: co-housing v.s. old-fashioned neighborliness

[Jim Willits (dwn2erth]

high density townhouse projects are high density townhouse projects
regardless of who lives in them... and, developed farmland and or open
space is developed farmland or open space. no longer being what it was
before it was developed..all neighborhoods built before the twenties were
pedestrian.. jim willits 
http//www.bioactive.com
http//willits [at] bioactive.com

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> From: Robin D. Ellison <Robin.D.Ellison [at] Dartmouth.EDU>
> Subject: Re: co-housing v.s. old-fashioned neighborliness
> Date: Thursday, May 14, 1998 11:11 AM
> 
> ---  jim willits wrote:
> I have to agree with robin ellison. the continued suburban sprawl with 
> "hip" new packaging ..."cohousing" is still just traditional suburban
> sprawl. Urban restoration and village revitalization is the real need
> --- end of quote ---
> Thank you for agreeing with me, but I'm afraid that is not the point I
was making.
> 
> For one, I ' don't think co-housing is "just  traditional suburban
sprawl."  From what I've heard co-housing is quite often done in
neighborhood or even urban settings.  The housing is most often more dense
than any "suburban sprawl, " due partly to the pedestrian nature of
co-housing.
> 
> I do think you are right that retrofitting old neighborhoods and village
centers is a great way to go, but I don't expect to see that till we have
people of more moderate means taking up co-housing.  
> 
> My feeling is that people do co-housing for personal reasons, not
primarily ideological reasons,  so they will pick what they think is the
nicest, and most convenient site they can afford [and everyone has
different criteria].  
> 
> I think the best way to attract people to " urban restoration and village
revitalization" is to make those site more desirable to the people you want
to live there.  I think co-housing is one of those ways.  It is also
possible that if one "quieted" traffic [redesigning streets with plantings
and pedestrian space so that traffic moves at 10-15 MPH], as they do in
some cities in Europe, that those neighborhoods would become highly
desirable.
> 
> It is a fascinating topic, and I think more suited for an urban renewal
discussion not necessarily co-housing.
> 
> happy trails 
> Robin Ellison
> Hartland VT