Cohousing-L Mailing List: cohousing & gated communities

[SuperKat! (kervin]

Hi Cohousing-L,
I'm writing a paper for my 'Cities and Suburbs' class at Hampshire College
and wondered if you could give me some feedback.  I'm interested in how
architectural/neighborhood planning affects community relations and how
inequality in America is manifesting itself in current residential design.
I was going to compare gated communities and public housing projects, but
I realized that what I'm really interested in is cohousing.  So...now I'm
looking at gated communities and cohousing as two alternate models for new
neighborhoods.
If anyone has any comments, please e-mail me back.  I'm particularly
interested in how cohousing communities interact with the outside and
avoid appearing like gated communities to others.  Any examples
of involvement with the larger neighborhood would be great.
Another question to think about:  If cohousing were to catch on on a grand
scale, what would the effects be? 
Also, if you have any comments on how to encourage diversity w/in the
community, I'd also be interested in that.
Thanks in advance,

Kathryn Ervin
Smith College '01J

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The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation!