Cohousing

Last updated

Cohousing playground next to common house SunwardCohousingPlayStructure2005.jpg
Cohousing playground next to common house

Cohousing is an intentional, [1] self-governing, [2] cooperative community where residents live in private homes often clustered around shared space. [3] The term originated in Denmark in the late 1960s. [4] [5] Families live in attached or single-family homes with traditional amenities, usually including a private kitchenette. As part of the communal orientation, shared spaces typically feature a common house, which may include a large kitchen and dining area, laundry, and recreational spaces. Walkways, open space, parking, playgrounds and gardens are common examples of shared outdoor spaces designed to promote social interactions. Neighbors also often share resources like tools, babysitting and creative skills.

Contents

Neighbors collaboratively plan and manage community activities and shared spaces while maintaining their own income and private lives. [6] The legal structure is typically a homeowner association or housing cooperative, [7] and some use community land trusts. [8] To promote the common good, cohousing members regularly share meals, attend meetings, and participate in community work days. [9] As part of cohousing's social nature, neighbors gather for parties, games, gardening, musical performances, movies, sports, and celebrations. Living in cohousing makes it easy for residents to form clubs, organize child and elder care, share information, free cycle and carpool. [10]

Cohousing facilitates interaction among neighbors and thereby provides social, practical, economic, and environmental benefits. [11] [12] With democracy in action in their cohousing community, residents also tend to be more active in civic [13] affairs in the broader community.

Characteristics

Based on active participation by residents, [14] Cohousing communities are usually structured – in principle and often in architecture – to encourage interactions [15] and the formation of rich relationships among their members. Neighbors are encouraged to cooperate within the community and to care for each other. [16] Community involvement is a way of life. So as to promote an interdependent village-like [17] experience where neighbors all know each other, cohousing developments are usually limited to around 20–50 homes and frequently feature large common areas where residents interact. While cohousing developments are designed to encourage community, residents have as much personal privacy as they want. Residents are able to choose how much they engage in order to find the right balance between their privacy and the community. [18] Decision-making in cohousing communities is often based on building a consensus within the community. [19] Residents work together to maintain the shared space which they can all use, [18] usually saving money. [20] At the same time residents manage their own space in ways that appeal to them.

Although most cohousing groups seek to develop multi-generational communities, some are also based on sustainability, [21] others create supportive communities for senior living. Cohousing proponent and architect Charles Durrett wrote a handbook on creating senior cohousing [12] while the cohousing leader and architect Kathryn McCamant created the 500 Communities Program to train professionals to support groups building sustainable cohousing. Although all cohousing communities are intentional [22] —including many ecovillages [1] [23] (such as Sawyer Hill in Massachusetts and Los Angeles Ecovillage in California)--the broader term of intentional communities encompasses alternative forms of living, ranging from communes to ashrams to monasteries which aren't always managed collaboratively and don't necessarily include the privacy and individual living space of cohousing. The collaborative democracy [20] that distinguishes cohousing generally provides a foundation for a range of beliefs and ways of understanding to flourish, [24] however some cohousing communities are instead based on shared religious beliefs or philosophy. [25]

Co-living

Cohousing can be considered related to co-living as the concepts appear to overlap. Both co-living and cohousing have shared areas that benefit all, such as spaces for events or communal meals. Cohousing provides self-contained private dwellings (often houses but sometimes apartments), often owned by the resident, but sometimes rented. Co-living on the other hand may have independent units within the same building (apartments or rooms), which are often rented. However, none of these are exclusive, thus the potential overlaps. The key distinction is that cohousing embeds collective resident control and stewardship into its legal form and decision making whereas co-living is typically owned and run by external investors or operators, although the owner sometimes also lives in the co-living space.

Origins

There are precedents for cohousing with the Siheyuan, or quadrangle design of housing in China which has a shared courtyard and is thus similar in some respects to cohousing. Unlike the utopian movement in 18th and 19th century, the three villages of Arden, Ardentown, and Ardencroft, Delaware founded at the turn of the 20th century [26] as well as Bryn Gweled Homesteads founded in 1940 in Southampton, Pennsylvania incorporate private homes on commonly owned land while promoting cooperative values. These cohousing communities were established in part based on Henry George’s single-tax theory. In the 1920s in New York, the rise of cooperative apartment housing, which now make up over 70% of all homes in Manhattan, similarly incorporate shared facilities, self government and greater social interaction but rarely include prospective residents participation in the design process nor the intentionality of current cohousing. Swedish social scientists and architects advanced common space coupled with private homes, followed by the modernists in the 1930's-'50's who spurred the building of many cohousing communities, [27] such as Marieberg [28] in Stockholm.

Distinct from communal living experiments associated with the hippie movement, [15] the modern application of cohousing developed in Denmark in the 1960s among groups of families who were dissatisfied with existing housing and communities that they felt did not meet their needs, particularly in respect to work-life balance. [29] Bodil Graae wrote a newspaper article titled "Children Should Have One Hundred Parents", [30] spurring a group of 50 families to organize around a community project in 1967. This group split into two groups who developed the cohousing projects Sættedammen and Skråplanet, which are among the oldest known modern cohousing communities. The key organizer was Jan Gudmand Høyer who drew inspiration from his architectural studies at Harvard and interaction with experimental U.S. communities of the era. He published the article "The Missing Link between Utopia and the Dated Single Family House" [31] in 1968, converging a second group.

Self-governing cohousing communities, such as Sharingwood in Washington, N Street in California, Ecovillage at Ithaca and Cantines Island both in New York were built in the '80's and '90's with cooperatively owned space and a social structure that encourages supportive interactions, balanced with privately owned homes, as collaborative alternatives to typical American subdivisions. The Danish term bofællesskab (living community) was promoted in North America as cohousing by two American architects, Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett, who visited several cohousing communities and wrote about what they learned in books with the aim of advancing cohousing development. [11] Building on the success of a few earlier, established cohousing developments, the first community in the United States to be designed, constructed and occupied as cohousing by the McCamant Durrett team is Muir Commons in Davis, California in 1991. [32] [33] In the following decades, their vision [34] of cohousing has become dominant, while communities such as the Hundredfold Farm in Pennsylvania and Genesee Gardens in Michigan represent more expansive models of how families join to form cohousing communities.

Growth

Cohousing communities are part of the cooperative economy in the United States and are predicted to expand rapidly in the next few decades as individuals and families seek to live more sustainably, and in community with neighbors. Since the Muir Commons in Davis, California was completed in 1991, more than 160 communities have been established in 25 states plus the District of Columbia, with more than 125 in process. Most cohousing communities are intergenerational with both children and elders; in recent years, senior cohousing focused on older adult needs have grown. These communities are often environmentally friendly and socially sustainable.

Hundreds of cohousing communities exist in Denmark and other countries in northern Europe. In Canada, there are 17 completed communities, and approximately 42 in the forming, development, or construction phase (see The Canadian Cohousing Network). There are more than 300 cohousing communities in the Netherlands (73 mixed-generation and 231 senior cohousing), with about 60 others in planning or construction phases. [35] There are also communities in Australia, [36] [37] the United Kingdom, New Zealand [38] [39] [40] and other parts of the world. [41]

Cohousing started to develop in the UK at the end of the 1990s. The movement has gradually built up momentum and there are now 14 purpose built cohousing communities. A further 40+ cohousing groups are developing projects and new groups are forming all the time. Cohousing communities in the UK range from around eight households to around 30 households. Most communities are mixed communities with single people, couples and families but some are only for people over 50 and one is only for women over 50 years. The communities themselves range from new developments built to modern eco standards to conversions of everything from farms to Jacobean mansions to former hospital buildings and are in urban, rural and semi- rural locations.

One of the prominent voices for cohousing in the United States is Grace Kim, a principal of Schemata Workshop architectural firm in Seattle, a founder of Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing in Seattle, and a boardmember of the US Cohousing Association. For Kim, cohousing provides a possible solution to the worldwide problems of loneliness and isolation, through the intentionality of people to live collaboratively. Kim spoke in Vancouver at an April 2017 TED talk on the topic of cohousing, asserting that cohousing can make us happier via an intentionality on relationships that births communitas —the spirit of community. [42]

Design

Because each cohousing community is planned in its context, cohousing often follows the principles of complementary architecture. A key feature of this model is its flexibility to the needs and values of its residents and the characteristics of the site. Cohousing can be urban, suburban or rural. The physical form is typically compact but varies from low-rise apartments to townhouses to clustered detached houses. They tend to keep cars to the periphery which promotes walking through the community and interacting with neighbors as well as increasing safety for children at play within the community. Shared green space is another typical characteristic, whether for gardening, play, or places to gather. When more land is available than is needed for the physical structures, the structures are usually clustered closely together, leaving as much of the land as possible "open" for shared use. This aspect of cohousing directly addresses the growing problem of suburban sprawl.

The Sunward Cohousing community illustrating greenspace preservation, tightly clustered housing, and parking on periphery, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2003. SunwardPanorama2003.jpg
The Sunward Cohousing community illustrating greenspace preservation, tightly clustered housing, and parking on periphery, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2003.

In addition to "from-scratch" new-built communities (including those physically retrofitting/re-using existing structures), there are also "retrofit" (aka "organic") communities, in which neighbors create "intentional neighborhoods" by buying adjacent properties and removing fences. Examples range from N Street Cohousing in Davis, California to Bristol Village in Vermont. Often infill cohousing members create amenities such as common houses after the fact while living there.

Cohousing differs from some types of intentional communities in that the residents do not have a shared economy nor, usually, a common set of beliefs or religion, but instead invest in creating a socially rich and interconnected community. A non-hierarchical structure employing a cooperative decision-making model is how residents usually manage their communities. Some individuals take on leadership roles, such as being responsible for coordinating a garden, developing budgets or facilitating meetings.

Ownership form

Most cohousing communities in the U.S. currently rely on one of two existing legal forms of real estate ownership: individually titled houses with common areas owned by a homeowner association (condominiums) or a housing cooperative. Condo ownership is most common because it fits many financial institutions' and cities' models for multi-unit owner-occupied housing development. U.S. banks lend more readily on single-family homes and condominiums than housing cooperatives. Charles Durrett points out that rental cohousing is a very likely future model, as it already is being practiced in Europe. In Australia, due to higher legal complexity of cooperatives, cohousing projects are most commonly developed under limited proprietary company with cooperative-like rules. [36]

Cohousing differs from standard condominium development and master-planned subdivisions because the development is designed by, or with considerable input from, its future residents. The design process invariably emphasizes consciously fostering social relationships among its residents. Common facilities are based on the actual needs of the residents, rather than on what a developer thinks will help sell units. Turnover in cohousing developments is typically very low, and there is usually a waiting list for homes to become available.

In Europe the term "joint building ventures" has been coined to define the form of ownership and housing characterized as cohousing. According to the European Urban Knowledge Network (EUKN): "Joint building ventures are a legal federation of persons willing to build who want to create owner-occupied housing and to participate actively in planning and building." [43]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecovillage</span> Community with the goal of becoming more sustainable

An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community that aims to become more socially, culturally, economically and/or environmentally sustainable. An ecovillage strives to have the least possible negative impact on the natural environment through the intentional physical design and behavioural choices of its inhabitants. It is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes to regenerate and restore its social and natural environments. Most range from a population of 50 to 250 individuals, although some are smaller, and traditional ecovillages are often much larger. Larger ecovillages often exist as networks of smaller sub-communities. Some ecovillages have grown through like-minded individuals, families, or other small groups—who are not members, at least at the outset—settling on the ecovillage's periphery and participating de facto in the community. There are currently more than 10,000 ecovillages around the world.

Housing tenure is a financial arrangement and ownership structure under which someone has the right to live in a house or apartment. The most frequent forms are tenancy, in which rent is paid by the occupant to a landlord, and owner-occupancy, where the occupant owns their own home. Mixed forms of tenure are also possible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intentional community</span> Planned, socially-cohesive, residential community

An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork. Members typically unite around shared values, beliefs, or a common vision, which may be political, religious, spiritual, or simply focused on the practical benefits of cooperation and mutual support. While some groups emphasise shared ideologies, others are centred on enhancing social connections, sharing resources, and creating meaningful relationships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retirement community</span> Town or housing complex for older adults who are generally able to care for themselves

A retirement community is a residential community or housing complex designed for older adults who are generally able to care for themselves. Assistance from home care agencies is allowed in some communities, and activities and socialization opportunities are often provided. Some of the characteristics typically are: the community must be age-restricted or age-qualified, residents must be partially or fully retired, and the community offers shared services or amenities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunward Cohousing</span>

Sunward Cohousing is an intentional community located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Sunward's founders were pioneers in bringing the cohousing model to Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yarrow, British Columbia</span> Place in British Columbia, Canada

Yarrow is a small community located 90 kilometres east of Vancouver within the City of Chilliwack in British Columbia, Canada. It is in the Fraser Valley at the foot of Vedder Mountain. The village was first settled by Mennonites in the late 1920s, following the draining of Sumas Lake and the reclamation of the former lake bed for agriculture.

Cobb Hill is an intentional community in Hartland, Vermont in the United States. Its design borrows from other community, agricultural, and environmental action models: cohousing, ecovillages, sustainable communities, community-supported agriculture (CSA), agricultural collectives, sustainability research and action organizations.

The following outline is provided as an overview of topics relating to community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Findhorn Ecovillage</span> Experimental architectural ecovillage in Scotland

Findhorn Ecovillage, also known in the past as the Findhorn Community, now know as Ecovillage Findhorn out of respect for our local neighbours, is an experimental and utopian community project based at The Park, in Moray, Scotland, near the village of Findhorn focused on ecological solutions to the world's poly-crises and reconnecting humans both to "all our relations" and to the ground-of-being or source - the underlying essence of existence/grace of creation referred to in all major religious and spiritual traditions. It has recently been bought out by its community residents, introducing full democracy for the first time ever, as the residents aim to regenerate the economy and the community after a series of devastating shocks to its economy and facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Leafe Christian</span>

Diana Leafe Christian is an author, former editor of Communities magazine, and nationwide speaker and workshop presenter on starting new ecovillages, on sustainability, on building communities, and on governance by sociocracy. She lives in an off-grid homestead at Earthaven Ecovillage in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, U.S. She has said that living in an intentional community "is the longest, most expensive, personal growth workshop you will ever take," though others are also associated with this quotation and it's unclear who originated it.

<i>Communities Directory</i>

The Communities Directory, A Comprehensive Guide to Intentional Community provides listing of intentional communities primarily from North America but also from around the world. The Communities Directory has both an online and a print edition, which is published based on data from the website.

The Miccosukee Land Cooperative (MLC) is a cohousing community. It is located near Tallahassee, in northeastern Leon County, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Durrett</span> American architect and author

Charles "Chuck" Durrett is an American architect and author based in Nevada City, California.

Muir Commons is a cohousing development located in Davis, California. Completed in 1991, Muir Commons was designed by Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett at McCamant & Durrett Architects and is known for being the first new-construction cohousing development in the United States. Opposed to many traditional neighborhoods, Muir Commons was created and maintained around the premise of fostering a sense of community between its residents by facilitating community-level functionality. While each family or individual lives in a privately owned residence, many other features of the community are shared, including a central communal building, an orchard, gardens, yards, workshops, and even the decision-making process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yarrow Ecovillage</span>

The Yarrow Ecovillage is an intentional community in Yarrow, British Columbia, Canada. Yarrow is a settlement of 3,000 population within the municipal boundaries of Chilliwack, British Columbia. The Ecovillage is a member-designed community that aims to achieve a more socially, ecologically and economically sustainable way of life. The Ecovillage's master plan for the 10-hectare (25-acre) former dairy farm, foresaw three main legal entities: An 8-hectare (20-acre) organic farm, a 31-unit multigenerational cohousing community, and a mixed-use development with just under 2800 m2 of commercial space, a 17-unit senior cohousing community and a learning centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community-led housing</span> Way to let future residents design and develop housing

Community-led housing is a method of forming future residents into a 'building group' who contribute to the design and development of new housing to meet their longer term needs, rather than leaving all design decisions to a developer looking to maximise the immediate financial return.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Co-living</span> Type of residential living model

Co-living is a residential community living model that accommodates three or more biologically unrelated people living in the same dwelling unit. Generally co-living is a type of intentional community that provides shared housing for people with similar values or intentions. The co-living experience may simply include group discussions in common areas or weekly meals, although will oftentimes extend to shared workspace and collective endeavors such as living more sustainably. An increasing number of people across the world are turning to co-living in order to unlock the same benefits as other communal living models, including "comfort, affordability, and a greater sense of social belonging." There is a difference between coliving, flex living, and shared living. These terms are interchangeably used across regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earthaven Ecovillage</span> Ecovillage in Carolina

Earthaven is an ecovillage in Western North Carolina, about 50 minutes from Asheville.

Kathryn "Katie" McCamant is an American architect, developer and author based in Nevada City, California. She is known for her work introducing the concept of cohousing in the United States, including co-authoring two books which introduced cohousing to the English-speaking world. She has designed, developed and consulted on dozens of cohousing communities across the United States, Canada and elsewhere.

References

  1. 1 2 Albright, Ty (15 March 2017). "More than Cohousing – Cohousing Like and other Alternative Housing Solutions – what's the difference?". cohousing.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  2. ↑ DePaulo, Bella (13 August 2013). "What Does a Cohousing Community Look Like?". belladepaulo.com. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  3. ↑ Cohousing definition Archived 16 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin 2000).
  4. ↑ Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 119.
  5. ↑ Giorgi, Emanuele (2020). "Co-housing". The Co-Housing Phenomenon: Environmental Alliance in Times of Changes. Cham: Springer. pp. 93–115. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-37097-8_4. ISBN   978-3-030-37097-8.
  6. ↑ "About [LA Ecovillage]". laecovillage.org. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  7. ↑ REBAC Staff (31 December 2018). "Cohousing: Private Homes With Community Living". homebuying.realtor.com. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  8. ↑ "Land Trusts: Affordable, Cooperative and Restorative". planning,org. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  9. ↑ Senior Cohousing Advocates Committee (28 September 2023). "Managing participation in Community". cohousing.org. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  10. ↑ "Cherry Hill Cohousing: What is Cohousing?". wen.cohousing.com. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  11. 1 2 McCamant, Kathryn; Durrett, Charles. "Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves." Berkeley, Ca.: Ten Speed Press, 1994.
  12. 1 2 Durrett, Charles. "Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living." Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers, 2009.
  13. ↑ Berggren, Heidi. "Cohousing as Civic Society: Cohousing Involvement and Political Participation in the United States∗" (PDF). UMass.edu. umassdartmouth. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  14. ↑ "what is cohousing". cohousing.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  15. 1 2 "Cohousing can offer social interaction and healthy cooperation". Cleveland.com. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  16. ↑ Foster, Judy (6 August 2019). "How to Help One Another". cohousing.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  17. ↑ Martin, Courtney (20 September 2016). "Modern Housing With Village Virtues". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  18. 1 2 Segal, Corrine. "Balancing privacy and community with design in cohousing". PBS.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  19. ↑ "Deciding Governance". cohousing.org. 29 June 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  20. 1 2 "3 Proven Benefits Of A Cohousing Community". springhills.com. 29 June 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  21. ↑ Thomas, Lotus (5 August 2022). "Inspiring a Paradigm of Sustainability". cohousing.org. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  22. ↑ "Community Types". ic.org. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  23. ↑ Christian, Diana Leafe (14 October 2008). "But is it really an "Ecovillage"?". cohousing,org. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  24. ↑ Martin, Courtney (9 April 2024). "Ten Lessons in Neighborliness From a Cohousing Community". Greater Good Magazine. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  25. ↑ Cimino, Richard (1 February 1999). "Spirituality and community drive co-housing movement". rwarchives.com. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  26. ↑ "Village of Arden, Delaware — A Single-Tax Community, Founded 1900". arden.delaware.gov.
  27. ↑ Vestbro, Dick Urban (November 2008). "History of cohousing – internationally and in Sweden" (PDF). kollektivhus.nu. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  28. ↑ Plesner, Alexander (20 July 2021). "The History of Coliving". alexandraplesner.medium.com. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  29. ↑ Larsen, Henrik Gutzon (14 September 2019). "Three phases of Danish cohousing: tenure and the development of an alternative housing form". Housing Studies. 34 (8): 1349–1371. doi: 10.1080/02673037.2019.1569599 .
  30. ↑ Graae, Bodil. "Børn skal have Hundrede Foraeldre", "Politiken" [Copenhagen], April 1967.
  31. ↑ Gudmand-Høyer, Jan. "Det manglende led mellem utopi og det foraeldede en familiehus." "Information" 26 June 1968
  32. ↑ McCamant, Kathryn; Charles Durrett; Ellen Hertzman (1994). Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves (2nd ed.). Ten Speed Press. p. 208. ISBN   0-89815-539-8. Muir Commons is the first cohousing community to be built in the United States.
  33. ↑ Norwood, Ken; Kathleen Smith (1995). Rebuilding Community in America: Housing for Ecological Living, Personal Empowerment, and the New Extended Family. Shared Living Resource Center. p. 111. ISBN   0-9641346-2-4. Muir Commons was the first CoHousing community to be built entirely new in the United States.
  34. ↑ MacCleery, Rachel (28 April 2023). "Building Community with Cohousing". urbanland.uli.org. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  35. ↑ "Community Addresses in The Netherlands". Federatie Gemeenschappelijk Wonen. Archived from the original on 7 December 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  36. 1 2 "Cohousing Architecture Australia" . Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  37. ↑ "The Commons: could co-housing offer a different kind of great Australian dream?". The Guardian. 31 October 2016. Archived from the original on 1 November 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  38. ↑ Hudson, Daisy (24 March 2021). "Cohousing life about to begin in High St development". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  39. ↑ "Book review: Cohousing for Life". Architecture Now. 27 October 2020. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  40. ↑ "Capital co-housing group redefining the Kiwi-dream". Stuff. 26 April 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  41. ↑ Home - UK Cohousing Network
  42. ↑ Kim, Grace (24 July 2017). "How Cohousing can make us Happier (and Live Longer)". Vancouver. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  43. ↑ "Guideline of Joint Building Ventures in Hamburg". eukn.org. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014.

Further reading

Media

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.