Re: so is it cohousing? | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Rob Sandelin (floriferousmsn.com) | |
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 10:21:31 -0800 (PST) |
I have to say that I know that the Bellingham cohousing group was meeting long before Wonderland ever got involved, so they do not meet my criteria for Developer driven cohousing. Nor do many of the other examples mentioned. I have only heard of two developer driven cohousing projects where the developer bought the land, did the upfront development work and THEN went out and recruited Cohousing members. In almost every other case, the group had already formed, developed their vision of the community they wanted, and after some time period hired wonderland or some other developer. This would be in my definition "developer assisted cohousing", and so the group already has a vision of how they want to live together, the developer did not promote that vision for them, they already held it. Again my point in this question is not that developers are bad, it is the question, does a community form when the developer organizes the group and sells the vision, and does that community last when the project is up for sale and the developer has to sell the units. Would the developer sacrifice their own immediate self interest for the community vision, or would they simply soft peddle the community at that point, sell the units to whomever, and thus those that move into the last units have little interest or connection to the vision of a community and all the commitment that takes to accomplish? There was a community in Aspen which begun as a cohousing group and shortly after move in stopped calling themselves cohousing because only a few of the people there actually held the vision of cohousing and community, every body else was just looking for affordable housing, and after a year or so the cohousing people moved on, in some cases quite bitter and discouraged. I am not suggesting that all or any developer driven cohousing would end up in this way, but the question is, does a developer really care about forming a community of people or selling real estate to make a profit? And when those things collide, where will their loyalties go? I have gotten a few private email now that illustrate that when developers are in charge, they sell to whomever and soft peddle the cohousing and community expectations part and this puts them in conflict with the existing residents, who want cohousing and community to be the core of why people move in. This might not be always the case in this situation, hence why I asked the question in the first place. Using the Common Ground cohousing group in Aspen as a model of failure I would suggest there is a critical mass needed of residents to carry the commitments of community in order to succeed. If they critical mass does not hold, then the community will eventually probably just become a nice condo. Rob Sandelin Naturalist, Writer The Environmental Science School http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm ><((((º>`·..·`·..·`·...><((((º>...·`·..·`·...><((((º>.·`·..·`·...><((((º>.·` ·..·`·...><((((º>·.. ><((((º> ·`·..·`·...·..·`><((((º>.·`·..·`·...><((((º>.·`·..·`·...><((((º>..·`·..·`·.. .><((((º>·.. ·`·..·`·....·`·..·`·...><((((º>
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So is it cohousing? Fred H Olson, February 8 2007
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Re: so is it cohousing? Fred H Olson, February 9 2007
- Re: so is it cohousing? Rob Sandelin, February 9 2007
- Common Ground in Aspen Sharon Villines, February 10 2007
- Re: Common Ground in Aspen Rob Sandelin, February 10 2007
- Re: so is it cohousing? Raines Cohen, February 10 2007
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Re: so is it cohousing? Fred H Olson, February 9 2007
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