Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Size Matters (was: CH TV + Simple Wins

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Mar 25, 2013, at 10:16 AM, R Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> wrote:

> For the purposes of cohousing, I've been told size matters -- that is, a coho 
> of appx 30-40 units may be optimum.  At a dozen units or so, sharing the cost 
> diverse amenities gets to be a stretch, and mediating among personal 
> conflicts is harder to pull off (like, imagine a nuclear reactor with no 
> damper rods).  But at more than 50, then actually meeting and knowing 
> everyone, and remembering all the names, becomes problematic.

With 43 units we have 85 people, 65 adults. With the new round of move-ins that 
is likely to be close to 90. For reasons of job market, relocations, need for 
more healthcare, and desire to live on a board, we will have a huge number of 
turn overs this year -- 6 units. That is a sea change.Tsunami is not too much 
of a stretch. Some of these have been on the market for 2-3 years and just now 
selling so we are losing both owners and renters. Several founding members.

So the issue related to number of units is the number of people in them. Except 
for the 615 SF units, more people consistently have moved into units than moved 
out. And they have been consistently more active which feels like more people 
even when the actual numbers haven't changed.

> A 500-resident community subdivided into cohousing-like neighborhoods?  Well, 
> Sociocracy is scalable, and should offer a layered structure of interlocking 
> circles that can hold everything together.  One thing for sure:  At several 
> hundred households, convening plenary at the Common House and "talking things 
> out" will not be central to their management strategy.

No, that's why the subdivisions. Each cohousing community will operate 
independently while participating in and benefiting from larger eco services. 
Using sociocracy (which is the currently favored plan), each cohousing 
community would have 2 or more representatives in a general cohousing 
management circle, and representatives of that circle would participate in a 
management circle for the various eco activities. Each level would function by 
consensus so none of them dominates the other they just have different aims 
which must be synchronized.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines, Washington, DC
Sociocracy, Dynamic Governance, Agile Organization
http://www.sociocracy.info