Urbanism and Cohousing Panel

January 7, 2010

Cohousing communities have strong synergies with New Urbanism. They practice good urbanism by contributing to the diversity of the greater urban environments with an emphasis on shared facilities, sustainable living practices, walkable neighborhoods, car share programs, and the creation of community. It is because of these overlaps with New Urbanist principles that we have organized a panel discussion focusing on living in cohousing communites.

We have invited residents from four different cohousing communities in Colorado to contribute their first hand experiences to the dialogue about our shared goals. Brian Bowen is a cohousing resident and architect that volunteered to mediate the discussion and help shed light on our topic. The discussion addressed car and public transit use, social and financial sustainability, and the cohousing communities’ relationships with the larger neighborhoods and urban life around them. We also invited Jim Leach of Wonderland Hill Development Company, one of the leading developers of cohousing neighborhoods in the west, to provide an introduction to the concept of cohousing. What is presented here is an edited and slightly shortened version of the presentations and the question and answer session that followed.

Ronnie Pelusio, CNU Colorado Board Member

Historic Downtown Golden: New Urbanism the Old Fashioned Way

Panel Discussion, April 16, 2010

Small cities and towns located on the fringe of bigger cities are now part of the urban growth areas and share the planning issues and challenges of urban development in the metropolitain area scale. When well planned and well executed, the development in the centers of these cities and towns provides a good alternative for suburban living. Denver’s metropolitain area is no exception. A good example for successful development in this type of setting is the development in last ten years in Downtown Golden, Colorado. The following panel tells the story of Downtown Golden along with the challenges of investing in complex projects and the merits of encouraging urbanity and quality of life. Our host Mark Heller, Executive Director of Golden Urban Renewal Authority (GURA), not only provided an attractive space for the event but also picked the projects and arranged the three presenters for the panel. CNU Colorado expresses deepest gratitude to Mark Heller and GURA. The texts provided here are shortened and edited versions of the presentations provided on April 16, 2010

Korkut Onaran, President, CNU Colorado