Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Why I live in cohousing

[John Faust (wjfaust]

PattyMara(?),

Of course, you are right about building anew. It isn't the greenest approach
to creating neighborhoods of cooperative people. On the other hand,
cohousing has long recognized that it can be effective to reshape an
existing neighborhood for that purpose. That is certainly the greener
approach but there are some problems with the architecture of our suburban
neighborhoods.

The biggest problem is probably the auto-centric sprawl--a path chosen for
us by large corporate interests that make money from cookie cutter housing
development, automobiles and petroleum. The result is a collection
neighborhoods that are formed around and reliant on the automobile and
streets that dissect the neighborhoods. Take a look at architect Christopher
Alexander's <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Alexander> housing
cluster pattern<http://www.patternlanguage.com/apl/aplsample/apl37/apl37.htm>.
Read his comments on how architecture and common ownership promote
community. That very different architecture may make it clearer why existing
suburban developments present roadblocks to creating communities as we once
understood them. The standard condo association is probably more conducive
to doing that but is still auto-centric and rarely follows the housing
cluster pattern.

The other problem is that somehow urban centers will need to be reshaped.
Currently, LA and Houston have almost 2/3 of their urban land area dedicated
to the automobile (i.e, freeways, driveways, parking spaces). Other cities
may not be that extreme but still have an unsustainable bias towards the
automobile. The rising cost of energy and climate change will not support
this. It is a dead end urban architecture and will eventually have to be
reshaped to include public transportation and diminished automobile use. An
alternative might be to convert suburban centers into satellite cities and
move work closer to the current residences. That's solves some of the
transportation problem but does little for promoting community.

John Faust

On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 11:20 AM, pattymara [at] juno.com <pattymara [at] 
juno.com>
wrote:

>
> Dear all,
> I've been reading these posts with interest, and as someone who has lived
> in Tierra Nueva for our full ten years, I'm wondering how any of these
> lovely neighborhood stories are simply because you live in cohousing?  All
> of the comments I've read could be made about a thriving neighborhood or
> town or extended family, where folks talk to one another, help each other
> out and play together well.  All of these things are not exclusive to
> cohousing.
>
> I'd like to hear some thoughts about something unique to living
> specifically in cohousing that couldn't be found in a lively neighborhood or
> extended family group.
>
> In thinking about sustainablility and the real environmental and personal
> costs of designing, building and eventually living in a brand new bunch of
> houses, I'm not so convinced it is worth the effort when the same benefits
> could be found in other arenas of connection and good neighboring.
>
> coheartedly,
> PattyMara Gourley
>
> www.pattymara.etsy.com
>
> The goal is not to bring your adversaries to their knees but to their
> senses. -- Mahatma Gandhi
>
>
>
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