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

[Fred H Olson (fholson]

This is written from my point of view as an observer of community and
cohousing not from my list manager role. I have very little to say that
has not been already said in this wonderful thread but I'll try to add my
twist.  I guess this might be more accurately labled:
Community in cohousing is usually great, but elsewhere can be good too.

I often say that the aspects of cohousing are not new or unique but
pulling them together and giving them a name has given them much more
combined power.  The one special thing about cohousing as with all
intentional residential communities is that some people for whom community
is a high priority move to one place to make it happen.  That gives
cohousing a tremendous advantage over traditional American neighborhoods
where people do not share that common priority. The proximity and shared
expectations make community activity organizing much easier.

As some have pointed out there can still be differences in cohousing that
people have difficulty bridging that stymie community activity but on the
whole the level of community in cohousing greatly surpasses what is likely
in a traditional neighborhood.

But as others have also pointed out that does not mean that community
can not happen in traditional neighborhoods.  I think that intentional
efforts to build community in traditional neighborhoods are still
worthwhile.  Since the number of traditional neighborhoods dwarfs the
number of cohousing communities and is likely to do so for the forseeable
future, the potential for community building there exceeds that in
cohousing.  The level of community and reasonable expectations for
community building must be much lower but not zero.

Sometimes when people learn that I do not live in cohousing and never
have, they are surprized. I've lived on the same street in a
Minneapolis racially mixed inner city neighborhood for 30 years.
We've participated in a few efforts to form a cohousing community
that did not succeed. We have dreamed of a Retrofit Cohousing Community
on our block ( see http://mn.cohousing.org/retrofit ) but it looks
unlikely we will ever really achieve that.  But we have a great block and
neighbors. Most of my neighbors have been here a long time too. Anecdotes
similar to those related in this thread happen here.

On the day we moved in, a neighbor down the street broght sandwiches over.
She still lives there and her daughter's family has formed and matured on
the block since then.  Her son-in-law is a good friend. (BTW he's black,
I'm white.) I once had a count of how many neighbors cared for my son when
he was young and so on and so on. (My son is now 19 and has recently
concluded that he should go back to the U of MN after his first year and
complete his degree :)  These days neighbors are discussing and sharing
news about what will happen to "Vera's" house (just south of us) which has
been vacant for several years, rehabbed, almost closed last week... We've
been hit hard by the mortgage/foreclosure fiasco.  Our efforts to recruit
community oriented folks have not been succesful.

While the logistics of building community where one lives are easier, dont
forget other types - around other shared interests, organizations etc. It
implies some travel usually and that limits frequency, participation etc
but is still worthwhile.  The book _Creating Community Anywhere: Finding
support and connection in a fragmented world_ By Shafer and Anundsen has
many ideas.  See description at:
http://store.ic.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=34_51&products_id=74

Fred

--
Fred H. Olson  Minneapolis,MN 55411  USA        (near north Mpls)
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