Today many of us live in urban and suburban worlds. We go to work, come home, eat dinner and watch television in our separate worlds, sometimes never knowing the name of our next door neighbors, or their neighbors. Our closest friends live 20 miles away or even only on the internet. In this ever connected world, we have become woefully disconnected from our own local village.
Cohousing is mini-movement set on reversing this trend. Intentional communities, though small in number, represent a new way of looking at where we live and how we live.
I am not talking about living in a teepee commune, although cohousing does share some similarities with communes. The cohousing goal is to reduce unnecessary consumption. Share group spaces, share work, share friendships, consensus building, in short create a living village.
What is Cohousing?
Cohousing is a type of collaborative housing in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own neighborhoods.
Cohousing residents are consciously committed to living as a community. The physical design encourages both social contact and individual space. Private homes contain all the features of conventional homes, but residents also have access to extensive common facilities such as open space, courtyards, a playground and a common house.
Most cohousing features common meals one or more days a week, regular meetings where consensus is reached, community service in maintaining common areas and meal preparation. To some it is about community for others is about living with a smaller footprint, for others it is about living actively rather than passively.
In a cohousing community, you know who lives six houses down because you eat common meals with them, decide how to allocate homeowners dues and gratefully accept a ride from them when your car’s in the shop. You begin to trust them enough to leave your 4-year-old with them. You listen to what they have to say, even if you don’t agree with them at first, and you sense that you, too, are being heard.
Cohousing Organization
Cohousing likely isn't for everyone, but it is a growing movement for people who have felt estranged from their neighbors and neighborhoods striving to create intentional communities. It is probable, in this world where everything is changing, including our standard of living, cohousing may be part of the solution for living more independently using less resources.
In Davis (the soul sister of the Peoples Republic of Berkeley) a neighborhood decided to start a cohousing project just as simply as tearing down the backyard fences between a couple of neighbors. From there it has grown into an entire community of people and the housing has strived to remain affordable (by California standards). It isn't even necessary to own in order to be part of a cohousing project as some have leases and renters. Cohousing has surprisingly low turnover due to the sense of community that is derived.
As I explore more about the cohousing movement, I hope to post more information in the future.