OUR COMMON HOUSE: USING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT TO DEVELOP SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES By MARUJA TORRES-ANTONINI A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2001 Copyright 2001 by Maruja Torres-Antonini ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Numerous individuals and institutions have contributed to the success of this research throughout its duration by offering me financial and practical support, advice, encouragement, and friendship. In Venezuela, CONICIT, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas), contributed substantial funding for the latter portion this research, as well as Universidad Simón Bolívar, which granted me an extended leave of absence and complementary income. For this I acknowledge Aura Elena Jiménez at CONICIT, as well as professors Zunilde Arenas and Aquiles Martínez at the Faculty Development Office (Dirección de Desarrollo Profesoral) and Prof. Luis Emilio Pacheco at the Department of Design, Architecture and Fine Arts (Departamento de Diseño, Arquitectura y Artes Plásticas). I am especially grateful to Prof. Jorge Negrette for initially encouraging me to seek a doctoral degree, and to Prof. Marcelo Castro, for advising, cheering me on and being a good friend throughout this process. Lastly, I am grateful to my dear mentor José Miguel Roig, for ushering me in the quest for the theoretical foundations of architecture and instilling in me the desire to follow his steps in scholarship. In the United States, I was privileged by, and honored with a grant from the Fulbright Educational Exchange Program administered through LASPAU (Academic and Professional Programs for the Americas), which funded the early years of my doctoral program. In particular I thank María Eugenia Méndez of the United States Information iii Agency (USIA) at the US Embassy in Caracas, and Renee Hahn of LASPAU at Harvard University. Finally, the University of Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning arranged for my tuition to be paid through renewed graduate teaching assistantships, provided me office space and services, and issued me the travel grants that made the overseas portions of this research possible. Thus, I am thankful to my colleagues, faculty and staff in the College and particularly in the Department of Interior Design for their practical, emotional, and academic assistance throughout my studies and the dissertation process. I extend special thanks to Dr. Raymond R. Issa, former Director of the Architecture Doctoral Program, and to Dr. Helena Moussatche and Prof. Jerry Nielson for their unconditional support. In the completion of this research I also thank my committee members, Drs. John Scanzoni, Gerald Murray, Richard Schneider, and Prof. Bill Tilson for their expert advice, encouragement, and friendship; and Jim Albury and his staff at CIRCA´s Electronic Thesis and Dissertation lab for their excellent technical support. And principally, my deepest thanks go to Dr. Mary Jo Hasell, committee chairperson, mentor and dear friend, for her generosity and understanding, endless patience, sustained encouragement, sharp critiques and professional guidance. This research would not have been possible without the help of my very extended family and friends who—either close by me or far away in another continent— contributed to my doctoral venture. During five years they consistently comforted and cared for me and my children, included us in their life events, and whenever possible visited or sent goodies and money. They provided me with an effective model for a social support network, and in doing so they opened my eyes to the social benefits inherent in cohousing. So I dearly thank my parents, and my siblings Oscar, Isabel and iv Araira, as well as Thais Eugenia, Juan Rafael, Jorge, Virginia, Roberto, Carlos Eduardo, and aunt Irma, who in one way or another helped me in this experience. I also thank my cousins Carolina, Alex, Angie, Niajah and aunt Beverly, who housed, fed, counseled and amused me and my children the many times we visited Atlanta. My friends Evelyne, Margarita and Gery were surrogate moms for my children on demand. Rosanna and Gloria—whom I thank for being a sounding board for my ideas and for their help with the graphics in dissertation—along with Diana, Luisa and Mariche, were caring friends who made sure I released the unavoidable stress. My beloved Clara, Tino, Oscar and José, gave me the motivation to undertake this task in the first place, and the incentive to accomplish it. Finally, I would like to thank all the “cohommies” who generously shared with me their insight and expertise, took me along in their treks, and opened their homes and their hearts to me. Ann Zabaldo, Debbie Behrens, Susan LaBarre, Fred Olson, Tom Pendleton, Ron Petralito, and Dale Mason were wonderful informants and travel companions in a tour of Danish cohousings in the Summer of 1999. Nancy Bair was my kind host in Pioneer Valley Cohousing during the 1999 North American Cohousing Conference; Mary Menconi, Nancy Stradling, and Myra Bair shared Nancy’s attic and their cohousing know-how with me. Above all, my most sincere thanks go to all the residents of Lake Claire Cohousing, who consented to participate in my research and in doing so allowed me to join their own social experiment. Without their unselfish help this dissertation would have never been possible. For the past 2 years they have been co- researchers in this study, willing subjects and a well of information; but beyond this, they have been good friends and a source of inspiration. I am deeply thankful to Erika and v Randall, Andy and Ana, Jenny and Tom, Nancy, Kay, Joe and Liz, Betty Jo, Sheri and Barry, Aishah, Nancy and John, Greg and Diane, Linda and Larry, Kathleen, and Liz: for volunteering information, sharing their reflections, showing me around, and having me in their homes and at their tables. I am especially indebted to Nancy for her extraordinary help; and to her, John and Noah—my host family—for making me feel at home at Lake Claire. I thank Greg Ramsey for sharing with me his personal insight and professional expertise on cohousing and for providing the graphic documentation needed for this research. I owe them all much of what I have learned about using the built environment to create, as they have, a caring community. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES ..............................................................................................................ix LIST OF FIGURES..............................................................................................................x ABSTRACT......................................................................................................................xiv CHAPTERS 1 CREATING COMMUNITY IN AMERICA...................................................................1 Quest for Community...................................................................................................... 3 Expert Approach: Community by Design............................................................... 5 Alternative Approach: Community by Action........................................................ 8 Cohousing Approach: Community by Design and Action...................................... 9 Opportunity for Research.............................................................................................. 16 2 LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................................19 American Cohousing Literature.................................................................................... 19 Cohousing in Context................................................................................................ 23 Cohousing and Society.............................................................................................. 25 Cohousing in Detail................................................................................................... 27 Void in the Cohousing Literature.................................................................................. 31 3 METHODOLOGY: RESEARCHING SOCIAL CONTACT AND DESIGN IN A COHOUSING COMMUNITY.......................................................................................34 Action Science, Research, and Social Change.............................................................. 34 Methodological Considerations: Applying Action Research to Cohousing................. 36 Research Plan................................................................................................................ 41 Case Study Strategy.................................................................................................. 44 Experiential Techniques............................................................................................ 48 Analytical Techniques............................................................................................... 53 Environmental Design Theory.................................................................................. 57 4 PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS OF A COHOUSING COMMUNITY...........67 Development Process.................................................................................................... 70 Social Profile................................................................................................................