What Is Cohousing?

Cohousing What is neighborhoods Cohousing? Imagine a neighborhood where: Some people consider • Neighbors know each other well and can, if they choose, catch up on each other’s lives these resident-created often over home-cooked dinners in a Picturesque Pioneer Valley Cohousing, Amherst, MA comfortable common house. neighborhoods a return to • Residents live much more sustainably after the best of small-town building wisely and then sharing common facilities. America. Cohousing offers an ideal • Kids are free to run and play together along balance of privacy and car-free paths and in a central area in sight Others say they are like a community, with of their homes. • traditional village or the neighbors choosing Neighbors own their individual homes and to participate in activities together make decisions about their community. close-knit neighborhoods at the level they wish. Imagine living in cohousing. of earlier generations. Futurists suggest that Want to learn more about cohousing is a new cohousing? response to the 21st Visit www.Cohousing.org century’s social, economic and environmental challenges. Berkeley (CA) Cohousing neighbors enjoy a casual gathering. Today’s new “old-fashioned neighborhood” Cohousing communities are old-fashioned Most of these intentional neighborhoods created with a little ingenuity. They neighborhoods are bring together the value of private homes with the intergenerational, offering benefits of more sustainable living. That means opportunities to live among green building, common facilities and good people in all stages of life, connections with neighbors. All in all, they stand ranging from newborns to Children playing on the pedestrian path at as innovative answers to today's environmental residents well into their 80s. In addition, several new Hearthstone Cohousing in Denver. and social problems. communities are designed specifically for seniors. Cohousing communities combine the autonomy of What makes cohousing unique: private dwellings — complete with full kitchens — meetings between neighbors, as well as for • Growing Community with the advantages of shared resources and deliberate gatherings such as celebrations, clubs • Increasing Sustainability more sustainable living. The basic traits include and business meetings. shared facilities, a common house, self- • Aging Successfully. People living in cohousing share no other ideology governance and design input by the group of In a cohousing community, you know who lives six other than they want to know their neighbors well future residents that created the community. houses down because you eat common meals with and to live more sustainably. Yet cohousing offers them once or twice a week, decide how to allocate Cohousing first emerged in Denmark more than an ideal balance of privacy and community, with homeowners dues and gratefully accept a ride from 30 years ago. The first cohousing in the U.S. was members choosing to participate in activities at them when your car’s in the shop. You listen to what completed in 1991. By 2008, there are more than the level they wish. they have to say, even if you don’t agree with them at 113 established cohousing neighborhoods in the first, and you sense that you, too, are being heard. U.S. and approximately 100 more in development. Research at major academic institutions has found that people live longer and healthier lives Cohousing residents are consciously committed to when they are socially connected to others. living as a community. The physical design encourages both social contact and individual space. In addition to enriching the families who live in Private homes contain all the features of conventional cohousing, cohousing helps to create a more homes, but residents also have access to extensive sustainable society, one neighborhood at a time. common facilities such as open space, courtyards, a playground and a common house. Cohousing helps create Cohousing communities are often designed as attached or single-family homes clustered around a a more sustainable courtyard or a pedestrian walkway. Most have 20 to society, one A community play day at Pleasant Hill (CA) 40 households. Regardless of the size of the Cohousing. community, there are many opportunities for casual neighborhood at a time. .

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