Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Umbra on co-housing

Posted by Bricolage at 11:49 AM on 12 Dec 2005

If you've ever lived in an apartment building, you know the odd mix of intimacy and distance it entails: Yes, I know you go to the bathroom every day at 5:54 a.m. and wear that pink sweater way too often, but no, I don't know your name. While some people are just fine with this set-up, others think it's downright spooky. Today, a reader wonders how to go about setting up a community-living situation that's more friendly and more eco-friendly. Advice maven Umbra Fisk dwells on the question and constructs a fine answer.

new in Ask Umbra: Won't You Be My Neighbor?

For story: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
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Invaluable Reference!

Anyone who is considering intentional community should run, not walk, and get the book Creating a Life Together, by Diana Leafe Christian.

Diana, editor for a decade of Communities Magazine (itself a great resource), notes that only about 10% of such projects succeed, and thoroughly covers the pitfalls and pleasures of starting an intentional community.

:::: Jan Steinman, EcoReality. ::::

by Bytesmiths at 1:21 PM on 12 Dec 2005

well I'll be

My boyfriend and I are in the process of moving out of where we are and into our 'own' space. We would love to be in a place where we could not only know our neighbors, but like them and enjoy being around them, which for us, deep down, means keeping our footprint light. The thing that really caught my eye about this letter was the location, we are doing all of this is in Hartford, CT....

by k8tedid at 3:35 PM on 12 Dec 2005

go visiting

My suggestion if you are interested in doing co-housing or community: visit www.ic.org find some interesting looking communities who are doing what you want, and go visit. Most are open to visitors and interns, and it is an invaluable resource to be there, see how others do it day by day, and talk to anyone you can at the community. Try to learn from others mistakes and strengths. And read Diana Leafe Christian's book!

Green Peace, Solea

by solea at 6:17 PM on 12 Dec 2005

neighborhoods on purpose

I had the great pleasure in the past few years of compiling stories about cohousing for a newly-released anthology titled REINVENTING COMMUNITY, written and photographed by people who live there. Stories highlight everyday life in cohousing culture, which tends to be remarkably
similar throughout North America.

Authors tell stories about implementing sustainable technologies and behaviors (solar, carsharing, reduced consumption, community gardens, green architecture, etc.); designing neighborhood decision-making that honors diverse opinions and strives for the greatest satisfaction for as many neighbors as possible; creating a social network of support, security, stability, and trust; and having a lot of fun, too.

In all, 50 stories and many photos of life in 40 or more different communities -- check it out.

Dave Wann, editor, and coauthor of AFFLUENZA and SUPERBIA! 31 Ways to Create Sustainable Neighborhoods.

by davewann at 2:05 PM on 13 Dec 2005
[ Parent ]

Cohousing and other IC's

I read Umbra's article after it was pointed out on the Cohousing-L email based discussion ( http://cohousing.org/cohousing-L ) . Cohousing-L is an active discussion that can be useful to newcomers to the idea, people trying to develop cohousing and those living in cohousing. It has over 600 folks - some in each of these categories. It's had over 22,000 messages in the last 13 years. Check us out.

Another resource that deserves highlighting because they they are so useful is the database(s) of communities. They can be found via
the http://cohousing.org and http://ic.org
(Currently the cohousing database
is a different presentation of a subset of the
database but will be becoming a separate database.) They include such information as
loacaion, name, contact, profile etc.

A couple quibbles with the article...
Cohousing is now generally spelled without a dash.

Umbra described residential intentional community.
In many ways this form is most desireable but
it is also the most difficult to create.
There are many more cohousing wannabes than there are people who have succeeded in living in cohousing.

There are other forms some of which I describe as "commuter communities" ; where people intentionally relate to others including communicating and organizing events and
travel some moderate distance to participate.
Of course the net can be very helpful to such communities. See the 1993 book:
Creating Community Anywhere (available at ic.org)

Fred, list manager of Cohousing-L

Fred

Fred H. Olson Minneapolis,MN 55411 USA My Link Page: http://fholson.cohousing.org

by fholson at 9:59 AM on 19 Dec 2005

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