Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Developers touring cohousing

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Mar 24, 2006, at 4:35 PM, katie-henry [at] att.net wrote:

> The KSI people just wanted to see our green roof and a couple units. 
> They knew nothing about cohousing and I don't think they were 
> particularly interested. But they were absolutely blown away by the 
> place. KSI has built countless thousands of condo and apartment units 
> and planned communities, with the usual showy lobbies and fitness 
> centers, but evidently they have never seen a building being used like 
> this as a home by its residents.

Such a fabulous story, Katie. I love it. The irony of this is that when 
you read mainstream condo development stuff and literature from the 
Communities Association Institute all you see are articles warning 
management and boards away from allowing residents to have any 
interaction with their building outside their own units. All activity 
in the building is expected to go through the management or the board. 
Getting approval to use an unused space for a community library would 
be impossible because the board would find it inconceivable.

This is why I think the greatest growth for cohousing is in already 
built "communities" like the millions of condos that could function 
like cohousing tomorrow with only a minor conceptual shift.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Building Community: A Guide to Creating New Neighborhoods
http://www.buildingcommunity.info