Cohousing-L Mailing List: Interesting article & data sets?

[Omer Gersten (ogersten]

Hi, you guys might enjoy this short article--it is
about how changing family structures and home choice
affects the environment. I'm at a University setting,
but I think it's possible to access the journal
"Nature" for free:

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v421/n6922/full/nature01359_fs.html

if the above link doesn't work for you go to:

http://www.nature.com/nature

and search for author name "JIANGUO LIU"


I also have a question which I think has been asked
before. I'm a PhD student in Demography at UC Berkeley
(CA) and am interested in Cohousing. I've lived in the
student co-ops here for many years and have been on a
couple of coho tours and did some housesitting at
Swann's market coho in Oakland. If there's data
permitting I'd like to do a quantitative study of
cohousing, but I haven't found a data set yet that's
super, at least for my purposes. If anyone you know of
anything (I already know about Graham's work) please
let me know. Also, if you're an academic that is doing
anything quantitative re: coho I'd be interested in
reading your work/study/survey for a number of
reasons. Even if you're an academic working on other
things I think that would be interesting as well.


Currently my interest is in the various mechanisms
that exist in coho that might lead to healthier
behavior and/or health outcomes. I'm interested in the
transformative aspect of coho in this regard. That is
to say, it is less interesting to me that healthier
people than average move into coho, although this is
interesting. The hypothesis would be that healthier
people live there simply bcs. people with higher
socio-economic status tend to have healthier behaviors
and higher SES folks tend to live in coho. 

It could be interesting, however, when like minded
people predisposed to act healthy (but not doing it)
are brought together and then act on the disposition.
For instance, if coho members had always wanted to
walk around the neighborhood but didn't because they
didn't have walking partners which they have now.  

The ideal study/data set on the connection btwn. coho
living and health would worry about all the various
mechanisms that might be at play, not just the sexy
idea that living in community makes one "feel good"
and that this might translate into living longer,
although for those who feel it fills a need in their
life this may very well be so (this is an interesting
question but one hard to study). Besides the notion
above that engaging in health activities might come
about through a particular program at coho (like
walking group, meditation group, etc.) I have other
hypotheses listed below. 

I'd welcome your responses to the hypotheses listed
below and any possible mechanisms that I haven't
already thought of. As well, although I haven't listed
them, there may be things that detract from one's
health. My main interest, though, is in this elusive
data set.


1. Instrumental support. Such aid can include
donations for a member's unexpected hospital bills,
taking someone places who has mobility difficulties,
and looking after members to see if there isn't an
emergency. In at least one assisted living community
(so older folks) in the US, the staff had knowledge
about whether members used the toilet (and other
things??) in their home during the day without having
to directly check on them. This allowed staff to know
whether there was cause to be concerned while at the
same time trying to maintain members' independence
(**CITE**). I read of at least one case in a cohousing
community where such "looking after" occurred
informally. Residents after waking and beginning their
day would partly raise their blinds. A break in this
habit might be a warning sign that a member was ill
(**CITE**).

2. Emotional social support. Such support can come
during good, bad, and the regular times. Communities
routinely will celebrate events in their members'
lives, such as birthdays, promotions, and weddings.
Informally over dinner and in public spaces
interaction not related to celebration occurs. There
are numerous accounts of members' supporting someone
sick or having troubles. 

In regards to aspects of their network, a number of
cohousing communities I visited in the US had email
lists for residents (I don't know the nature of the
discussions). The national cohousing network also
maintains a listserve open to anyone and participants
are mainly from the US but other places as well. There
are postings nearly every day and wide ranging
conversations take place. Some discussions are
ordinary like exchanging ideas about commercial dryers
a community should buy, but some are more serious like
if members have a duty to intervene on behalf of
someone who may have an alcohol problem. Many
discussion participants appear interested in politics
(with left-leaning views) and social issues in
general.   

There appears to be an ethic of sharing in these
communities-manifested in things like sharing dinners
together, sharing tools in the shed, and in common
activities like gardening. While not binding, members
of the Oakland cohousing community sign a
participation agreement upon entering stating that
they will be active members (at a minimum fulfill the
occasional dinner making obligations). The woman I
eventually house sat for in this same community (btw,
Joani Blank, founder of the well-known sex shop "good
vibrations") had posted a note on the listserve saying
that she would be out of town for a week and someone
could stay at her home. Joani's intent was that a
family in another cohousing community somewhere in the
country might want to vacation in San Francisco and
could stay at her vacated house free of charge.

3. Improved employment prospects. There is evidence
that unemployment is bad for one's health (particular
for men's). Besides directly having less money to
spend on things good for one's health, employment
often provides health insurance (particularly in the
US). Since many jobs are found through informal
channels, it is possible that members of one's
cohousing community could provide leads that
eventually result in employment.

4. Diet. Common dinners are usually served a couple
times a week to every day a week in the cohousing
communities. These dinners are prepared by members on
a rotating basis. In a community with 30 units, for
instance, one might be responsible for cooking for the
group one time a month. For all other days in the
month one can eat the prepared dinners. Since people
have an opportunity to specialize for their particular
cooking day, meals are often complete and even
elaborate. My hunch is that salads are almost always
served (but so too could fatty desserts). In cohousing
communities that I visited in the US, many had a
requirement of cooks to prepare at least one
vegetarian dish, with some cohousing communities
preparing only vegetarian meals. Most Americans eat
excessive amounts of meat and vegetarians can be
healthier in this respect and because they substitute
meat products for fruits and vegetables (**CITE**).   
 

5. Increased exercise. In the layout of the Trudeslund
community, an exercise room was part of the community.
There was one in another community I had visited in
Oakland, California. Based on the number of activities
organized by some of these communities (e.g. a
meditation group, a group to watch the TV show "The
Sopranos" together), I would not be surprised if they
also arranged activities like walking clubs. 

At least in US cohousing there seems to be a
heightened environmental awareness. This translates
into, among other things, an interest in less
dependence on the automobile and a desire to see more
and better public transportation. At least one
community that was in formation and looking for a site
to build on had as one of its explicit aims living
within a mile to public transportation. Neighborhoods
with accessible transportation may lead people to walk
more. An expert panel recently brought together by the
National Academy of Sciences increased its
recommendation for daily activity to 60 minutes. The
report stressed that the exercise could be done
throughout the day and might most easily be
accomplished through incorporating it in daily, common
activities (**CITE**). Despite some desire to be next
to public transportation, however, cohousing
developments have trouble finding suitable building
spaces and so it remains to be seen to what degree
proximity to public transportation is realized. In the
case of Denmark where public transportation is
ubiquitous this issue is less relevant. 

A feature of cohousing units is the concentration of
parking to one edge of the community. This has a
number of functions including the ability to make for
a "car free" interior where members can mill about and
children play. To what extent this arrangement keeps
people on their feet and moving is questionable, but
if nothing else the car does not lead directly to the
garage.   

Thank you all for putting up with the long post and
for your interest in coho issues. If you're
interested, you can respond to the group or me
directly.

Omer Gersten
UC Berkeley Demography Dept.
omer [at] demog.berkeley.edu

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