Cohousing-L Mailing List: Apartment Sharing Developer attempts to co-opt cohousing

[Rod Lambert (rod]

I mostly agree with Philip Dowds.

'Cohousing-washing' like 'green-washing' is going to happen as the approach
gains in popularity. And just like the English language is constantly
changing with words like "gay" and even "community" taking on changing
meaning (or even becoming meaningless), cohousing will likely morph too.

>From what I see, what's more important to many is the search for
communities that allow people to share their lives in more meaningful ways
with their neighbors. While architecture can contribute significantly to
this search it can at times hang us up and even exclude a large part of the
population because the architecture is unaffordable.

While their is value in trying to hold the line on definitions, I think we
should see building styles and cultures as being in a state of flux and not
as rigid dogma to be adhered to no matter what. IMO cohousing has a lot to
commend about it but the model will continue to be tinkered with to make it
more accessible and useful to its members.

Rod Lambert
Community Mentor,
EcoVillage at Ithaca, NY