Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Questioning cohousing ideals

[Howard Landman (howard]

> 1.    How do you justify separating cars into central carparks on the
> perimeter of a community?  Issues of access to the homes, weather etc
> seem to preclude having perimeter parking in her mind.

I don't see this as at all necessary.  It might be the best solution for
some sites, or it might not.  Small parking lots (a few cars each) scattered
here and there between or behind houses can also work, especially in the
case where fire regulation force you to have a road there anyway.

> 4.    The rythmn of the street relies on buildings having a prescribed
> setback from the street [supposedly].  By clustering my buildings and
> facing them toward the local river, I have turned my back on this
> 'streetscape'.  How do you address this change of rythmn and change of
> ownership of space [balance of public and private space has been
> altered].

Setback is sick and misguided in many cases.  It often forces large
fractions of total lot space to be wasted on yards facing busy-traffic
streets, in which no one feels comfortable.  It also increase the area
spent on walkways and driveways to reach the house.  See the discussion
of this issue in A Pattern Language.

        Howard Landman