Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: interesting article about Greek community housing design

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Jul 21, 2020, at 9:06 AM, Dick Margulis <dick [at] dmargulis.com> wrote:
> 
> On 7/21/2020 8:57 AM, Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L wrote:
>> If by resilient performance you mean the mixing of residential and 
>> commercial uses in one building, it is banned in cities here. Buildings are 
>> either residential or commercial. 
> 
> Sharon, if by "here" you mean Virginia, that may be true. If you mean the US 
> in general, it's not true everywhere. Many cities have zones where the first 
> floor is commercial (often including the basement beneath the store) and 
> upper floors are residential.

The excerpt given from the article seemed to say that there was vertical 
integration as well. I think it is the norm that first floors are commercial, 
even in the white glove buildings in Manhattan. It pays the bills plus long 
term residents choose renters they patronize — doctors, dentists, etc. One had 
a private dry cleaning and laundry service.

One of my ideal cohousing constructs for the downtown in cities, is a building 
with commercial on the first floor, short term rentals on the second, and a 
cohousing community on the upper floors. In DC especially there are lots of 
interns and fellows who come for 3-12 months, or 2 years. It would be nice for 
them to be able to participate as desired in a cohousing community. Even if 
they didn’t participate, it would be a different ambiance than group 
apartments, which is the norm. Everyone has a bed.

Sharon
——— 
Sharon Villines
http://sustainablecohousing.org
sustainablecohousing [at] groups.io
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