Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Re: gradient line from public to private (was, common house tensions to resolve)

[Jock Coats (jock.coats]

Newbie to the list making my first posting here!  I'm following this 
conversation with interest.  Here in Oxford England I am trying to get 
some interest going in co-housing.  We potentially have a plot of land 
available and a social landlord who may be able to fund some of the 
development for affordable housing alongside some paying for outright 
ownership and so on.

It is possible that we can persuade the city council to throw in the 
land and buildings of a pretty run down existing community centre in 
return for using some of the land value to finance rebuilding, and I was 
thinking perhaps of incorporating this into the whole development as a 
sort of stages progress from public realm into progressively more 
private realm of the co-housing complex.

And it strikes me that in this analysis below, both the public community 
centre and the cohousing common house actually fit somewhere in 
Chermayeff and Alexander's category 3. 'Group private'.  I was 
imagining, however, a spatial boundary as well as an administrative one 
- the 'community centre' would still be run by a local community 
association (still be a venue for weightwatchers and the parish council, 
youth groups and a polling booth), the common house, obviously, by the 
members of the co-housing community alone.

What do people think - is this blurring the lines too much?  I think it 
would help to settle the co-housing project into the community a bit 
more.  I read of some suspicion over co-housing from planners and 
neighbours for example and if it's all part of a gradual movement from 
public/community via private/community to private/family it might help 
to ease those fears.

Jock
1st step co-housing participant (pre-planning stage), Oxford, England.

Hans Tilstra wrote:

> To use the common house for public functions or not ....
>
> According to Serge Chermayeff and Christopher Alexander (of Pattern Language
> fame), spaces or realms for community and privacy can be broken into six
> domains.
>
> 6. Urban-Public  The places and facilities in public ownership: highways,
> roads, paths, civic parks.
> 5. Urban-Semi-public The special areas of public use under government and
> institutional controls: city halls, courts of justice, public schools, post
> offices, hospitals, transportation exchanges, parking lots, garages, service
> stations, stadia, theaters.
> 4. Group-Public  The meeting ground between public services and utilities
> and private property requiring joint access and responsibility: places
> requiring mail delivery, garbage collection, utilities control, access to
> fire-fighting equipment or other emergency rescue devices.
> 3. Group-Private Various secondary areas under control of management acting
> on behalf of private or public interest for the benefit of tenants or other
> legal occupants: reception, circulation, and service spaces; community
> gardens; playgrounds; laundries; storage; etc.
> 2. Family-Private The spaces within the private domain controlled by a
> single family that are devoted to communal family activities such as eating,
> entertainment, hygiene, and maintenance.
> 1. Individual-Private The "room of one's own," the innermost sanctum to
> which individuals may withdraw from their family.
>
> Cohousing strikes me as using these six gradients very deliberately and
> thoughtfully. Hence, when the discussion of the group involves these
> gradients, perhaps a discussion should take place to aspire towards defining
> these boundaries.
>
> Hans Tilstra
> http://home.vicnet.net.au/~cohouse
>
> In Melbourne, where http://www.merricohousing.org 's preferred land is under
> threat of being used for ordinary housing instead. Major set back...
>
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--
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*    Jock Coats, M3a Morrell Hall, OXFORD, United Kingdom, OX3 0TU   *
* T:+44 7769 695767 F:+44 845 1275714 E:jock.coats [at] jcsolutions.co.uk *
* W1:http://www.jcsolutions.co.uk W2:http://www.oxfordlibdems.org.uk *
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