Cohousing Communities

Characteristics of Cohousing Communities:

• A balance of privacy and community.

• A safe and supportive environment for children.

• A practical and spontaneous lifestyle.

• Intergenerational neighborhoods.

• Environmentally-sensitive design emphasizing pedestrian access and optimizing open space.

Common characteristics

• Participatory Process
  Residents participate in the planning and design of the development so that it directly responds to their needs.

• Neighborhood Design
  The physical design encourages a sense of community.

• Private Homes Supplemented by Extensive Common Facilities
  Each household has a private residence - complete with a kitchen - but has access to all of the common facilities. The common house is designed for daily use and supplements private living areas. Facilities often extend beyond the common house to include children's play areas, vegetable gardens, and the like.

• Complete Resident Management
  Residents take complete responsibility for on-going management, organizing cooperatively to meet their changing needs.

• Non-Hierarchical Structure
  While there are leadership roles, responsibility for the decisions are shared by the community's adults.

• Separate Income Sources
  There is no shared community economy