Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: so is it cohousing? Richdale Place in Cambridge, MA

[Deborah Mensch (deborahmensch]

Raines asked whether Richdale Place is cohousing, how it would be marketed,
whether they'd get up and running quickly with common meals, etc. (More
quoted material below.)

I'm also very curious about how this will work out, and whether there are
existing communities (whether they call themselves cohousing or no) that
started this way and have thrived. Deep in my heart, I want the answer to be
yes, because of the powerful leverage successful developer-driven
communities could have in bringing a a greater sense of community to more of
the world; but I admit to some skepticism -- I hope someone can prove me
wrong! If anyone on this list lives in such a community, would you be
willing to tell us about your community's successes and challenges?

Some questions I'm curious about (these assume that residents didn't know
each other or have significant interaction with each other before making the
decision to buy units--if my assumption is off, maybe you can say something
about these issues from your actual perspective):
 - What values or expectations, if any, were communicated to prospective
buyers as items they should agree to if they wanted to live in the
community?
 - When/if the residents did community-building activities together after
buying or moving in, how did it go? What sorts of activities worked best,
and which (if any) didn't work well? I'm thinking of these kinds of things:
training in decision-making methods; setting up governance structures for
the community; setting policies for the community (or were the big ones
outlined by the developer?); developing a vision/values statement for the
community that could guide future decisions; and developing supportive and
friendly relationships among the residents. These are all things that can be
challenging in any community, but that I might expect to be more challenging
if the group of residents doesn't exercise some self-selection based on
who's already involved and whether the values and visions of current and
prospective members mesh reasonably well.
 - Is the community self-managed? How were management practices
established, and how is it going?
 - How long has the community been moved in, and would you say there were
significant changes in the feel of the community over that time? If so, how
did the feel change, and what do you think led to the changes?

To me, the most interesting question at this stage is not whether these
developer-driven projects are Cohousing or not, but rather, whether they can
and do succeed in developing the same kinds of "village" phenomenon that
cohousing communities strive for and often achieve. If they do, the
terminology continues not to matter much to me. If developer-driven and
group-driven projects end up on really different trajectories after move-in,
however, the distinction becomes more important to me. If the formation
process is a good predictor of the end results, then I think we want to make
sure the terminology we use helps prospective residents understand what
they're getting into.

That said, if residents don't have input to the design process, then one of
the six defining characteristics of cohousing mentioned on the
cohousing.orgweb site isn't met. It seems possible to meet the rest in
a developer-driven
community.

-Deborah Mensch
 *Current resident of Pleasant Hill Cohousing, Pleasant Hill (San Francisco
Bay Area), California
 *Member of Tumblerock forming community, Boulder/Denver/Golden area,
Colorado (just going public -- listing pending on cohousing.org, and watch
this list for an introduction and web site link soon!)


> On 2/7/07, Raines Cohen <rc3-coho-L [at] raines.com> wrote:
>
> > http://www.richdaleplace.com/
> >
> > 3 stories, 20 units. Under construction, framed, built enough for
> > site tours by last November. 2008 occupancy?
> >
> > It's virtually nextdoor to Cambridge Cohousing, being developed by
> > Cambridge Cohousing's developer (and resident) Gwendolyn Noyes. It's
> > developer-driven, with community-building as part of the process,
> > developer-sponsored monthly meetings of future residents with a
> > trained facilitator, training investment, etc.
> >
> >   It links to http://www.cohousing.org/ but doesn't explicitly
> > reference cohousing, no, wait, they do get explicit in one spot:
> > > Background for Community:
> > >
> > > Richdale Place is the latest in a growing number of condominium
> > > residences that Oaktree Development has created especially to be
> > > community-oriented. It is one of our primary corporate goals to
> > > design projects which enable people to enjoy the benefits of
> > > neighborliness within an urban condominium dwelling. American
> > > mobility fosters what is often not a natural or happy lifestyle. In
> > > response to the sense of isolation some people experience, a new
> > > form of housing, called Cohousing, has become popular. In
> > > Cohousing, a group comes together with the intention of finding a
> > > site, designing, and then building a community. This takes enormous
> > > dedication and a long time, and many people who are otherwise
> > > attracted to such a friendly and natural way of life don't have the
> > > time to give to the endeavor. It's being represented by a realtor.
> > So is this modern fast-track cohousing for busy people who don't want
> > to take the time to develop it from scratch?
> >
> > ... [more material snipped]
> >
> > My answer would be "yes"... what's yours?
> >
> >   I'd be very curious about how it gets marketed, whether they do
> > outreach to cohousing channels, and whether they get into common
> > meals right from the get-go.
> >
> > Raines
> > in mourning for the parent of a friend involved in the cohousing
> > movement
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >