Like many innovative housing ideas, this one started in Denmark where there are more than a hundred cohousing projects in operation. The Danes use the word bofaellesskaber — living communities. These are not communes or condos, though there are some similarities. People own their homes, but also share mutually owned amenities built into the project. Those might include gardens, a library, laundry, and workshops. Many have community dining — a boon for singles and seniors. (Eating together — “commensality” — is one of the best community “glues” available). Single parents find child care easily, and kids are safer because cars are banished to peripheral parking lots. There is little crime. In short, cohousing is a good way to live. Surprisingly, it can be more affordable than many less desirable alternatives.
This beautiful and convincing book translates the concept into a form that we can put to work here. It has inspired many of the more than 40 cohousing projects being planned or built in the U.S. at this time. But there are many ways to do cohousing — “as many ways as there are people interested in living this way,” asserts Virginia Thigpen, who is developing a cohousing project in Davis, California. As she tended her garden in Village Homes (see next page) which she helped build, Ms.Thigpen cautioned us to remember that the Cohousing book is the only one available at this time, and is only one viewpoint. There is a temptation to use its ideas blindly, substituting expert opinion for personal innovation. That can lead to
“buying into a lifestyle,” which is rarely satisfying in the long run. She told us that in Denmark, each cohousing group is different. Though the newer ones may be structured by covenants, the older groups do not need to strive to be a community — they already are one. Experience allows flexibility without so many rules. Smaller cliques of like-minded individuals can operate within the larger cohousing scheme without disrupting it.“It takes time to evolve. It’s taken 16 years to see what works for them,” she said. “The important thing is that it works.” My guess is that it is going to work here, too, after a bit of cuttin’ & fittin’.
[J. Baldwin, Whole Earth Ecolog, p.73]

【コンテンツ】
1. Introducing Cohousing
2. Eight Cohousing Communities: An Inside Look
3. Creating Cohousing

出版年：1989年 (2nd printing)
言語：英語
ページ数：208ページ
サイズ：22cm×24cm×1cm

【コンディション】
表紙・背表紙・裏表紙に傷みがあります。内部は概ね良好です。