Cohousing-L Mailing List: Key Principles of Cohousing [was Is cohousing a consumer product?

[John Pustell (jpustell]

Rebecca -

We formed over the last 8 years and moved in last November.

Here is a link to our "what is cohousing" page on our website - we found it a 
good starting point for folks to learn about is. 
https://www.baystatecommons.org/about-cohousing/

We also have an FAQ that talks to some of the nuts and bolts of the process. 
https://www.baystatecommons.org/bay-state-commons-faq/

Updating our site for our now moved in status is underway (initial design 
choices being made) so you may want to download this page before it goes away.

John Pustell - Bay State CoHousing.

On Mar 15, 2023, at 3:08 PM, 

> 
> ?On Sat, Mar 11, 2023 at 7:57 PM rebecca.selove 
> <rebecca.selove [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Thanks everyone for the interesting comments.  As a member of a 
>> forming community I have a question for those of you who have lived 
>> in cohousing 10 years or so: what do you think are the key principles 
>> that ought to be explained to people who are checking us out?
> 
> I would suggest that explaining principles and  contracts," as others have 
> suggested, is probably not the best way to explain how a community works. 
> Instead, describe what happens. How is this or that space used? What kinds of 
> gatherings occur each week? 
> 
> What are the points of view that are affecting a decision you are making? 
> Give an example of how a problem was solved, even if it is an old one. 
> 
> People may be happy with doing things this way or that but not agree that it 
> is the result of believing in a certain principle. And some people rebel a 
> the idea of  contracts . Their fear of community is based on being 
> constricted in one way or another.
>