Co-Housing
Co-Housing
|
Shop
Read
For
questions,
|
Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?
by Katie Allison Granju In the seventies, Americans seeking deeper meaning and connectedness through community joined communes. Today, the word is "intentional communities." You don't have to quit your day job to join, and unlike communes of the past, this modern form of group living appeals to regular people from all walks of life-people just like you. Contemporary Americans fondly recall an earlier day when our children could be safely sent next door to play at a trusted neighbor's house, when a trip to the mailbox was an opportunity to chat with a friend up the street, and when meals were shared frequently with like-minded townspeople. We bemoan the suburban sprawl without sidewalks that sociologists, architects, and planners confirm has alienated us from the people in our own geographic spaces. In a recent issue of Time, writer Robert Wright discussed the field of evolutionary psychology, which has now emerged to chronicle this growing contrast between our modern environments and the way humans were designed to live. Yet, despite our awareness of the problem, we ourselves do little to change the face of our own communities. Day after day, we continue to drive silently in and out of our single-family homes with the mere touch of a garage door opener, leaving little opportunity for the meaningful personal interaction necessary for true kinship. Many times, we don't even know our neighbors' names. Now, however, a small but growing number of families around the United States have decided to challenge this perceived decline of community. These present-day pioneers are literally constructing communities, in both a physical and emotional sense, for themselves and their children. The term for these self-created neighborhoods is "intentional communities," and they are as varied as the people who inhabit them. "An intentional community is a group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values," says Geoph Kozeny, database coordinator for the Fellowship for Intentional Communities (FIC), a national clearinghouse for information on community living. According to the FIC, there are now several thousand intentional communities of all types located in every corner of the United States. Five hundred and forty of these communities asked to be included in the 1994-95 edition of the FIC "Communities Directory," up from 300 in the 1990-91 edition. Of the listed communities, fifty-four percent describe themselves as having a rural location, while twenty-eight percent are in urban settings-the remainder failed to specify. The "core values" described by Kozeny vary greatly by community. Some groups come together to create a more environmentally sustainable way of life. Others form in order to pursue rural homesteading or urban renewal. And thirty-five percent of the communities listed in the FIC directory describe themselves as organized around some type of shared spirituality. While these communities carry on the United States' long tradition of religious community life-continuing to this day with everything from Amish intentional communities to those operated by orthodox Jews and Hare Krishnas-the great majority of today's intentional communities are secular. As fascinating and even inspiring as many of these lifestyles may be, the average American family probably doesn't find them very relevant to the daily struggle to reclaim community. However, many "everyday" folks do quickly resonate with the description of what is possibly the fastest growing segment of the American intentional communities movement: "cohousing." The cohousing phenomenon began as a residential design concept in Denmark more than twenty years ago. After studying these Scandinavian "living communities," American architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett wrote their 1988 book, Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves (Ten Speed Press, 1993). They proposed the idea that traditional, detached American housing as it is currently being constructed simply isn't meeting the needs of its inhabitants. They offered a vision for what has been described as the "90s version of village life," and in so doing they spawned the now rapidly-expanding American cohousing movement. Cohousing communities are designed by their future inhabitants, who take an active role in every aspect of planning their own "neighborhood." The developments are generally constructed with groups of six to eighty privately-owned, single family dwellings or apartments organized around the philosophies of neighborliness and community interaction. These residences, which can be located in urban, suburban, or rural settings, are spaced in clusters, with common green areas designated for such things as gardens or playground equipment. Cars are often parked on the outskirts of the community so that the interior is reserved for people-friendly walkways. A "common house" of up to 8,000 square feet is shared by all community residents, allowing for group dining, a workshop/garage, or teen activities. Mailboxes and laundry facilities are sometimes located inside the common house as well, so that residents are sure to see and interact with their neighbors on a daily basis. Because common areas are held cooperatively by members of the community, residents are able to afford lifestyle extras, such as a swimming pool or acres of open fields or woods-amenities that wouldn't be possible for most single-family homeowners. Additionally, cohousing residents may choose to share many of the tasks that go along with running a household. One popular option is, regularly scheduled group meals. Residents rotate kitchen duties so that a family can sit down to a hot supper every evening while only having to actually prepare a meal and deal with cleanup on a certain number of days per month. Residents may also share everything from child care to lawn mowers in order to utilize all of their community's resources while freeing up more time for residents to spend with other people. Cohousing appears to be catching on. With twenty-eight American cohousing communities currently in operation and approximately 200 more now in the planning stages all over the country, Stuart Staniford-Chen of the Cohousing Network predicts that many hundreds of these new developments will exist across the continent within a decade. And this year, six American cohousing communities have been awarded one of only sixty-three prestigious Building Innovation for Home Ownership Awards, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This expanding but still unique living situation has obvious appeal for parents with children. Cohousing offers all the benefits of a cozy village of years past, integrated into the American mainstream. According to historians, past decades' attempts at group living in the United States usually failed because they neglected to provide adequate protection for family privacy and autonomy. Well-designed cohousing communities carefully balance community life with a respect for Americans' traditional need for personal space. "Cohousing is very popular because of its ability to provide folks with a solid sense of community while still maintaining a large degree of autonomy," notes Geoph Kozeny. For this reason, among others, many parents around the country are now seeking out cohousing communities as the ideal place to put down roots and raise their little ones. Daniel Greenberg, Ph.D., of Temple, New Hampshire, wrote his dissertation at the University of Minnesota on parenting within intentional communities. He agrees that cohousing offers a lifestyle that today's parents would be hard pressed to replicate in other types of available residential settings. He says that, unlike other types of intentional communities, cohousing inhabitants usually don't share a core ideology or belief system. What brings these families together is a sincere appreciation for community itself. These are parents, Greenberg points out, who believe that their children will reap immense benefits from deep and lasting associations with other people in their own neighborhoods. "Cohousing provides wonderful opportunities for modern families," he says. "It is structured with an economy of scale-shared chores, meals, etc.-that frees up parents to spend more time with their own children." Greenberg, who holds his degree in child psychology, believes that many troubled young people today are in search of a sense of belonging that is sadly missing from the homes and neighborhoods of 1990s America. He sees intentional communities as one possible antidote to this identity crisis. "Kids need a sense of context, of belonging. I think that this is evolutionary. Our suburban and even urban neighborhoods have lost this sense for children of belonging to something greater than just their own immediate family. Cohousing can provide this context," says Greenberg, who currently runs an exchange program for college students. Carol Parry and her husband, family physician Mike Dole, moved into St. Louis Park's Monterey Cohousing Community-Minnesota's only existing cohousing development-in January,1993. Carol agrees that her cohousing neighborhood of fifteen households provides added support for childrearing. In fact, it was after the birth of their first child, Brianna, eight years ago, that the couple first began thinking about the concept of community. At that time, we were living in a lovely neighborhood in St. Paul and there were a number of children there. We even had some cooperative dinners going on with our neighbors," recalls Carol. "But then, people began moving away and we began questioning how we could provide a sense of community for our own children." Carol and Mike had read about cohousing and thought that it sounded interesting. When they heard from friends that a Twin Cities area cohousing community was in the planning stages, they began attending meetings. Several years and much hard work later, they moved into their new home at Monterey Cohousing Community. Their son Matthew was born at home in their cohousing residence three years ago. "We have been very happy here. My children can go visit at other houses by themselves and we all do a fair amount of trading child care," says Carol. "Although our group kitchen is being rehabbed right now, I really enjoy our community meals. Preparing food every night is a big stressor for me and ohousing means that several nights a week, I just don't have to worry about it." Jory Agate, a mother and minister, says that she, her partner, and their two preschool-aged daughters will be moving into their new home in the urban Cornerstone Cohousing Community in Cambridge, Massachusetts within a few months. They are looking forward to what they see as the many benefits of parenting within a cohousing setting. "We wanted to parent in a community where everyone knows our kids and we know theirs. We want our kids to have neighbors they can play with and people of all ages who take an interest in them and their lives," says Agate. "This makes me feel safer as a parent. My kids will have many playmates and I will have many folks around who are willing to trade child care. We hope that this will give us more time as a couple." Barbara Graham Andre lives in Greyrock Commons cohousing community in Fort Collins Colorado. She and her husband reside with their two children among thirty other community households. Her mother lives directly next door. "We were looking for a place that would be great for our kids and for my parents. My father, now deceased, was ill when we moved in, so we needed a place that would work for all of us as a family. The suburbs left us cold," says Andre. "In cohousing, we found everything we needed: a park-like setting, a neighborhood of young children, wheelchair accessibility, proximity to my parents, and a community that is supportive beyond words." Andre says that positives of cohousing are really too numerous to list, but she cites the community baby-sitting co-op, car-free play areas for her children, and the group dining option as her favorites. "Imagine being able to 'eat out' on a regular basis at a reasonable price ($8 for all four of us) and not having to cook or clean up," says Andre. " Okay, well, I do cook and clean up for everybody else every once in a while when it's my turn on the schedule, but even that's fun because I'm doing it with friends." Despite the praise being heaped upon these innovative communities by residents and design experts, cohousing isn't for everyone. Even with the movement's emphasis on balancing privacy needs and community life for residents, some individuals who move into cohousing communities noted in a recent national survey reported in Cohousing Journal that they do feel a loss of autonomy. These inhabitants report feeling "on view" every time they leave the private spaces of their own homes and enter the commonly held outdoor areas. Carol Parry of Monterey Cohousing Community agrees that this can be an issue. However, she points out that many communities are adjusting their design in order to accommodate both indoor and outdoor private spaces. The amount of time that cohousing residents must spend meeting together has been cited as another concern. Because community decision making by democratic process and consensus building remain central tenets of the cohousing mission, every decision affecting the community-from the mundane to the monumental-may require a meeting. Jan Heiderer, a former California cohousing planning group member, recalled the length and intensity of the group consensus process in a recent article on cohousing in the San Francisco Chronicle: "At one meeting one night, the topic was sinks and whether they should be porcelain or stainless steel," said Heiderer, a travel consultant and mother of two who now lives in Boulder, Colorado. "After about two and a half hours, I said 'I'm outta here.' And that was just one detail." As Oscar Wilde once said when asked what he thought of socialism, "It takes up too many Monday evenings." Cohousing supporters counter that the many meetings a community holds in order to run its own affairs are an enriching component of the group living experience. They point out that modern American life holds few opportunities to practice the peacemaking skill of building consensus. Daniel Greenberg says that in his observation of children who are raised in intentional communities, the group decision making process offer something important, particularly to kids. "Children in these communities see adults building relationships and political structures within these meetings. This leads to kids who are often very social in the greater world," says Greenberg. "Children learn a sense of agency in this way. They believe that they can make things happen. They are like little lawyers, able to argue their case before anyone." Perhaps the most controversial charge being leveled against the cohousing movement is that it promotes an insular and economically elitist type of community. As Colorado cohousing resident Barbara Graham Andre admits, cohousing communities do allow neighbors to "choose one another." Proponents of this approach say that this satisfies a natural human need for creating meaningful relationships. Critics assert that "intentional" communities can become just a newer version of the intentionally segregated neighborhoods of years past. Roger Montgomery, former Dean of the College of Environmental Design at the University of California at Berkeley, was quoted at a recent symposium on New Urbanism as questioning whether cohousing is "tapping into a hunger for a sense of community" or whether the movement is providing housing "for a bunch of elitists who want to build walls around themselves and keep out African-Americans." A member of a California cohousing community who wished not to be identified says that he believes that cohousing activists aren't being honest with themselves if they don't see certain parallels between a self-selecting cohousing community and an exclusive gated condo development. Still, he sees the desire to live with others with whom one shares values and interests as a natural and pleasant aspect of human behavior. "I don't think that there is anything mysterious about the fact that, as people, we like to surround ourselves with other people who make us feel good, or at worst, don't make us feel bad," says this resident. "I find it very valuable to hang out with people I don't like or with whose views I disagree, but ask me to construct a living situation like this and I'll walk away." A further prohibitive factor to community diversity can be the high price of cohousing residences relative to other single-family housing around the country. A recent new townhouse offered for sale by the Twin Cities' Monterey Cohousing Community offered 1,375 square feet and a two car garage for $145,000 plus a $235 monthly association fee. Carol Parry, who has served as the community's treasurer and been active with Monterey's finance committee, admits that the price for the now-sold unit might look steep at first glance: "Some people who came to look at the townhouse thought it was an outrageous price, while others believed it to be reasonable. What people have to realize is that our building costs were higher than usual. Because we were creating something [a cohousing community] that had never been done before in the state of Minnesota, we had legal fees and other costs that other people might not have had," remarks Parry. Parry points out that the monthly association fees help support a beautiful 7,000-square-foot common house available to all residents, and that Monterey does house several very small units which would sell for a much lower price. National advocates are aware of the problem of high prices for cohousing and are actively seeking avenues such as grant funding to resolve the issue. Despite the controversies, cohousing planning groups continue to spring up all over the country every year. Residents who have successfully taken a cohousing community from start-up to completion advise that new communities should expect two to five years of hard work, dedication, and expense before the dream becomes a reality. In the process, a form of natural selection will take place and community members who stick with the project over the long haul can expect to form lasting bonds that will carry over into their daily lives once they are able to move into their new homes. C Cohousing experts such as Kathryn McCamant advise neophyte cohousing groups to obtain professional advice in the early stages of planning. Cohousing communities still exist as an odd duck legally, architecturally, and from a zoning standpoint. Potential communities may encounter resistance from preexisting neighbors who fear a "commune" moving in down the street. Networking and education can overcome these prejudices. Even with, or perhaps because of, the amount of blood, sweat, and equity it takes to complete one of these unique projects, the previously cited national survey of cohousing residents revealed an extremely high level of resident satisfaction. Those questioned said that the benefits of cohousing far outweigh the negatives and gave the lifestyle eight out of ten possible points on a rating scale. Approximately eighty percent of inhabitants said that they would choose cohousing again. Rob Sandelin, cohousing advocate and six-year resident of Sharingwood Cohousing Community in Washington state, says that he thinks he knows why. Reflecting on his toddler son Alden's recent first steps-taken during a group mealtime-Sandelin recalls the shared joy of the assembled community members at this littlest resident's new accomplishment. "These sorts of life transitions happen frequently here and they are a joy for us all," says Sandelin. "A child's first steps, the first two wheeler bike, the first day of school or homecoming dance...the whole tribe joins vicariously in these events and they become icons in our history together. Sharing is part of the strength and the beauty of our community." Katie Allison Granju is a frequent contributor to Minnesota Parent. Her story "The Trials of the Midwife" appeared in our October issue. She lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with her husband and two young children. ************************************************************************ SIDEBAR Cohousing Resources
The Cohousing Network
Cohousing, a quarterly journal
The Cohousing Handbook, by Chris Hanson Hartley and Marks Publishers, 1996 $24.95 800-277-5887 Practical advice on cohousing development Cohousing-Neighborhoods for
People:A twenty minute video on cohousing containing interviews with residents
of many North American communities.
Rocky Mountain Cohousing
Monterey Cohousing Community
|
