Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Use Proposal

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 10 May 2011, at 1:44 PM, Wayne Tyson wrote:

>  Most 
> people in law-free situations tend to more, rather than less, and the 
> exceptions often have a reason, like health for example, that they don't 
> want to talk about, but will if you try getting close to them first, you 
> might find that you have increased the community bond rather than bonded the 
> community.

"Most" has actually been found not to be true unless the activity is (1) truly 
cooperative — everyone bound by it agrees to it, (2) there are consequences, 
and (3) there is transparency — everyone who lives according to the same 
expectations knows what is happening.

This work by Elinor Ostrom won her a Nobel Prize — the first in economics to be 
given to a woman. She also proved that the 'tragedy of the commons' is not 
true, but it is only not true when the appropriate conditions are met — 
agreement, consequences, and transparency.

In her office, for example, the job of cleaning the refrigerator is assigned 
for a specified period of time and rotated amongst the users. The assignment 
list is posted on the wall beside the refrigerator, listing the names of the 
users and the months they are responsible. Dirty refrigerator? You know who to 
see. Jimmy putting stuff in and you don't know if he is on the cleaning 
schedule? Look at the list and ask him about it. 

Many cohousers are so conflict-averse that they see conflict in every action 
designed to govern their community in fair and equitable ways.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
TakomaTime, Your Neighborhood Timebank
Join Today: <http://www.takomatime.org/>