Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: BIG Co-housing. Who Loves It? Who Hates It?

[Dave and Diane (daveanddee]

Hi Lionel and all the folks in coho-land,

I went to your web site at

http://ecosyn.us/ecocity/Proposal/proposal1.html

and I must give you a lot of credit for thoroughly investigating the 
structural and mechanical aspects of the complex. What I did not see, 
and what I would need to see before I would consider living in a 
development of this nature, is the same amount of thought given to the 
social interactions of the residents as has been put into the building 
structure itself. Example: If you had 100 families living in this 
complex, how would they make decisions? Would it be some type of 
consensus process or would a management company run the place? How 
would conflicts be resolved? How many common spaces and what type would 
you have? Will the structure include consideration of "universal 
design" which allows people of varying levels of physical ability to 
participate? Has consideration been given to work requirements? Would 
the floor plans encourage different family types to live there, or 
would they all be similar? How would you handle soundproofing, 
particularly sound transmission through floors? Would people be 
encouraged to interact socially or is the purpose of this building 
simply to house a lot of people in the least environmentally damaging 
way?

Anyway, that's my .02 dollars and I hope you found it helpful.

--Diane Simpson
MARKETING FACILITATOR
JP COHOUSING  617-522-2209
P.O. BOX 420 BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS
HTTP://WWW.JPCOHOUSING.ORG

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On Thu, 23 Mar 2006, at 22:45:38 -0800 (PST), Lion Kuntz 
<lionkuntz [at] yahoo.com> wrote:
> From: Lion Kuntz <lionkuntz [at] yahoo.com>
> Subject: [C-L]_ BIG Co-housing. Who Loves It? Who Hates It?
>
> I want to know how people feel the chances are for a co-housing
> success story in a large mixed-use single-building multi-family
> structure.
>
> The key points:
> *** BIG (hectare, city block)
> *** MIxed-Use, commercial space on ground floor
> *** 100 families.
>
> Would you consider it? If not, what needs to change before you
> would? What is the one most important objection or barrier from
> you considering something like this?
>
> Sincerely, Lion Kuntz
> Sonoma County, California, USA