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- X-Last-Updated: 1994/07/12
- From: boutell@netcom.com (Thomas Boutell)
- Newsgroups: alt.housing.nontrad,alt.answers,news.answers
- Subject: alt.housing.nontrad Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Summary: What alt.housing.nontrad is about! READ BEFORE POSTING
- Followup-To: alt.housing.nontrad
- Distribution: world
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- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.housing.nontrad:2779 alt.answers:72445 news.answers:269648
-
- Archive-name: housing-nontrad-faq
- Last-modified: 1994/06/01
- Posting-frequency: weekly
-
- _NEW VERSION!_ Thanks to those who have helped to alleviate my
- ignorance. (To those who were unhappy with the first FAQ, I
- respectfully point out that no more knowledgeable soul had attempted
- to start one.)
-
- ALT.HOUSING.NONTRAD FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
-
- Contents
-
- * 1: What's This Group?
- + 1.1: Can I post looking for a roommate here? (NO!)
- + 1.2: Then what is this newsgroup about?
- + 1.3: Where can I find the latest FAQ?
- + 1.4: Where is this group archived?
- * 2: Cohousing
- + 2.1: What is cohousing?
- + 2.2: Isn't that exclusive? Sounds like a subdivision.
- + 2.3: What examples of cohousing groups can you point to?
- + 2.4: Where else can I read about cohousing?
- * 3: Nontraditional Houses
- + 3.1: Where can I learn about nontraditional houses?
-
- 1: What's This Group?
-
- 1.1: Can I post looking for a [summer sublet, roommate, etc] here?
- NO. THIS IS A WORLDWIDE NEWSGROUP. People in Sao Paulo, Brazil,
- have LITTLE TO NO interest in your desire for a summer sublet
- in Nice, France. Thank you. Use a newsgroup local to your
- facility or geographical area!
-
- 1.2: Then what is alt.housing.nontrad about?
- This group was formed to discuss nontraditional housing. I had
- new ideas such as cohousing (see below) in mind when I created
- it. The group is meant for discussion of both alternative
- _households_ (multigenerational housing, which was once the
- norm, multifamily housing with shared recreational spaces, even
- Nerd Houses...) and alternative _houses_ (which I didn't have
- in mind at first, but I agree they're perfectly relevant to the
- group).
-
- 1.3: Where can I find the latest FAQ?
- It's posted automatically to the newsgroup on a regular basis;
- you can also find it on the World Wide Web at the URL
- <http://siva.cshl.org/~boutell/nth_faq.html>.
-
- 1.4: Where is this group archived?
- This group is archived on the FTP site sunsite.unc.edu. FTP to
- that site (see comp.unix.questions if you need help with FTP)
- and do the following commands (thanks to Larry London):
-
-
- cd pub/academic/environment/alternative-energy/miscellaneous
- cd discussion-groups/newsgroups
- cd alt.housing.nontrad
-
-
-
- 2: Cohousing
-
- 2.1: What is cohousing?
- The following is drawn from the welcome message of the
- COHOUSING-L mailing list (described later in this FAQ):
-
- Cohousing is the name of a type of collaborative housing that
- has been developed primarily in Denmark since 1972 where it is
- known as bofoellesskaber (English approximation...) . It is
- characterized by:
-
- Private dwellings
- Typically each dwelling contains a kitchen, living-dining
- room and one or more bedrooms and baths, but the layout
- of the home is reshuffled to reflect community priorities
- - placing most used areas of home so they have a view of
- and easy access to the pedestrian street.
-
- Extensive common facilities
- The common building is designed for daily use, to
- supplement private living areas. The common building may
- include such facilities as a large dining room including
- a commercial style kitchen, lounges, meeting rooms,
- recreation facilities, library, workshops, childcare.
-
- Participatory process
- Residents organize and participate in the planning and
- design process for the development and are responsible as
- a group for all final decisions.
-
- Intentional Neighborhood design
- The physical design itself encourages a strong sense of
- community (as opposed to isolation) and facilitates
- social contact.
-
- Complete Resident Management
- Residents manage the community making decisions of common
- concern at community meetings.
-
- Pragmatic social goals
-
- Unlike collective and intentional communities, Cohousing
- retains the privacy and autonomy of the household
- but strengthens the family by creating supportive
- social networks and sharing certain daily tasks.
-
- The typical Cohousing community has 20 to 30 single
- family homes along a pedestrian street or clustered
- around a pedestrian court yard. The individual
- homes may resemble townhouses. Cars are kept on the
- periphery of the area. The common building is
- located centrally, often situated so it is passed
- when entering the community. Residents of cohousing
- communities often have several optional group meals
- in the common building each week.
-
- 2.2: Isn't that exclusive? Sounds like a subdivision.
- Jim Ratliff tells us:
-
- Affordable housing is a major challenge. But it's not the
- challenge that cohousing is addressing. Cohousing
- shouldn't be criticized for the problems it does NOT
- solve, but rather should be praised for the problems it
- DOES attempt to solve.
-
- Of course, SOMEONE has to pay extra to allow those with
- less money (i.e. can't pay their share) to participate.
- Those in my group are neither rich nor poor, but
- hopefully have just barely enough to barely make it work
- for them. They certainly aren't well-off enough to
- subsize others. There's no magic bullet for affordable
- housing: Someone has to pay in the end. To ask for
- subsidization for poorer members is to require the
- existence of richer members--the exclusivity problem
- persists!
-
- 2.3: What examples of cohousing groups can you point to?
- Once again, Jim Ratliff to the rescue:
-
- You can get a list from:
-
-
- The Cohousing Company
- 1250 Addison St. #113
- Berkeley CA 94702
- (510) 549-9980
-
- There's also a list in the Cohousing Resource Guide, described in
- the next section.
-
- 2.4: Where else can I read about cohousing?
- References provided by Larry London:
-
- First another electronic resource: there is a cohousing
- mailing list. Send mail to listserv@uci.com with the
- following line in the BODY of the message (no subject
- line needed):
-
- subscribe COHOUSING-L myname
-
- (_Information about the Cohousing Resource Guide provided
- originally by Rob Sandelin_)
-
- The cohousing resource guide will be available in March
- of this year. It is produced by the Puget Sound Cohousing
- Network, and compiled and edited largely by me.
-
- The Cohousing Resource Guide is a 50+ page collection of
- experiences, advice and learning from several of the
- cohousing groups in our region who have built projects.
- It includes information about group process and dynamics,
- finding a site, some begining design issues to think
- about, and a bunch of other info. It also includes
- references to books, tapes and cohousing groups and
- people. It is designed in a three ring binder format to
- be cheap and easy to annually update as new resources and
- advice gets shared.
-
- To order a copy send $6 (This covers our printing and
- mailing costs) to
-
-
- Rob Sandelin
- 22020 East Lost Lake Rd.
- Snohomish, WA 98290
-
-
-
- Reference provided by Art Mulder:
-
- _Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing
- Ourselves_-- 2nd ed._ Kathryn M. McCamant and Charles R.
- Durrett and Ellen Hertzman, 1994, Ten Speed Press, Post
- Office Box 7123, Berkeley, CA 94707. $29.95. 22 cm x 24.5
- cm (8.5" x 9.5") , 288 pages, Paperback is (aqua) green.
-
- More from Larry London:
-
- There also a monthly magazine, viz. "Cohousing Magazine,"
- which I believe costs $25/year (comes out quarterly I
- think). Write to: The CoHousing Network P.O. Box 2584
- Berkeley CA 94702
-
- 3: Nontraditional Houses
-
- 3.1: Where can I learn about nontraditional houses?
- There is a newsgroup about this subject,
- alt.architecture.alternative. In addition, the following wisdom
- is provided by Larry London, with minor editing by me:
-
- There is information about this and many other topics at
- sunsite.unc.edu. Check out the ftp directory:
-
- pub/academic/environment/alternative-energy/miscellaneous
-
- on sunsite.unc.edu and try the following (if you need basic
- information about FTP please read news.announce.newusers and
- comp.unix.questions):
-
- cd faqs
-
- or
-
-
- cd discussion-groups/newsgroups
- cd alt.architecture.alternative
-