Cohousing-L Mailing List: What do you call community residents?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

We have called those in residence

1. Residents, which includes everyone including renters who don’t become 
associate members. For communications related to access and safety, all 
residents need to read the members list.

2. Members, which includes owners and associate members.

3. Neighbors, which is ambiguous. Sometimes means the people in the units right 
next door, sometimes everyone in the community and sometimes the people 
immediately outside the community.

Increasingly people are using “neighbors” which feels to me to be distancing. 
It makes the relationship the same as with the “neighbors” on the other side of 
the fence. Our relationships are closer and more casual than most but certainly 
not all of the people who happen to live next door to each other.

I thing very few if any residents would like being called by a new word — 
communitarian or such. Some people tried “villagers” but it sounded pompous and 
place too much emphasis on being our being a community apart from the larger 
community. We are in a sense but still we are integral to the larger community.

Anyway, I wondered what people are doing now.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org