Comments on: Relocalization — the Cohousing Experience

By: thompsco

thompsco — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:06:43 +0000

I wish I lived in a cohousing environment! It really is the best of both worlds: private space for when you want privacy, and access to common areas that are much better than any one person could afford or maintain. I like too the balance where peoples’ personal lives are respected and unknown, yet at some level, people will tend to look out for each other. I hope we see more of it, it seems like the ideal way to live.

By: loni gray

loni gray — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:59:24 +0000

Hey Rob, thanks for this older post. Let me ask something related now in December, 2008:

How to translate these principles at the neighborhood scale.

I have been a proponent of Cohousing-style collective living (and working) for some time. My new social enterprise folds it into a bigger vision, however. We will be working on the neighborhood scale- where our impact is felt more powerfully by each individual.

We work to create local creative/commercial partnerships to build vibrant, self-reliant neighborhoods. We encourage a relocalizing of their raw resources, inventories, vendors and labor so the assorted capital (human, natural, etc) that is generated by the community stay and develop inside the community. It is an intimate steady-state that centers around quality and community connection using local economics and culture.

I am looking for ways to translate the “relocalization” and “steady-state economy” tenets into our language and our strategies, using plain English not Economic-speak. So for example, how might I have a community analyze what their local carrying capacity might be and aim for a local steady economic development state? In 2009, we must talk livelihood and business survival tools. Can you suggest other business strategies being used by steady-state proponents at this neighborhood community level?

By: Raines Cohen

Raines Cohen — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:22:06 +0000

Rob,

Where’s your community? I’d love to read more about your process of discovery and learning. Cohousing Developer Jim Leach (Wonderland Hill Development Co.) likes to say “Community is the Secret Ingredient in Sustainability,” and I think you captured the spirit of that well. Graham Meltzer’s book, “Sustainable Communities: Learning from the Cohousing Model” has a bunch of quantitative survey-based research on how the two are linked. And Dave Wann’s new book “Simple Prosperity” has some nice perspectives on the topic (he’s on the national cohousing association board and lives in Harmony Village in Golden, CO)

Raines Cohen, Cohousing Coach
Planning for Sustainable Communities
Living at Berkeley (CA) Cohousing

On my way from Casa Verde Commons (Colorado Springs, CO) to Heartwood Cohousing (Bayfield, near Durango, CO), after visiting cohousing neighborhoods in Oregon: Ashland, Corvallis, and Portland.

By: John Rogers

John Rogers — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:32:14 +0000

I have not lived in a cohousing community as such myself but I admire the philosophy and practice, as it seems to aim at a good balance between the private and the communal, something which ‘communes’ or other intentional communities have not always managed to achieve. I recently visited a cohousing community in Santa Fe to present a workshop on ‘community currencies’, which are one tool for relocalisation that have spawned thousands of experiments worldwide. You can see lots of links on this topic at my website. Look forward to seeing more on cohousing.

By: matthieu

matthieu — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:40:05 +0000

I think that in times of globalization and hyper-individuaslim, cohousing is a very good step (not the only one though) towards relocalization and sustainability as the author stresses.
There are several books published (find a list on our website), or for a view from within, you might be interested to watch our documentary “Voices of Cohousing” that won an award at the 34th Ekotopfilm festival 2007. trailer and info: http://notsocrazy.net