Urbanism and Cohousing Panel

Cohousing: An Introduction

by Jim Leach

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

Introduction: Panel and Their Communities

by Bryan Bowen

Living in Nomad Cohousing

by Zev Paiss

Living in Hearthstone Cohousing

by Hariett Stobel

Living in Silver Sage Cohousing

by Henry Kroll

Living in Wild Sage Cohousing

by Zev Paiss

Historic Downtown Golden: New Urbanism the Old-Fashioned Way

A Quick Review of GURA and Its Projects

by Mark Heller

Cohousing: An Introduction

Jim Leach

President, Wonderland Home Development Company

Clear Creek Square: An Urban Mix Use Case Study

by Len McBroom

Living in Hearthstone Cohousing

by Hariett Stobel

Jackson Court Experience

by Brad Haswell

I’d like to start with what cohousing is and how it relates to new urbanism. New urbanism and cohousing are very much aligned in their basic principles. Cohousing is a cluster of homes arranged and designed so that people interact with their neighbors and more share certain amenities. Cohousing communities usually have a common house – a central community space where most residents share meals anywhere from one to three nights a week. Cohousing residents manage their own community. It’s very much like any other cluster development with a home owners association, except in this case, it’s a much more active association that meets on a regular daily basis. They have teams and committees.

We started developing cohousing communities about twenty years ago. We designed the first community in Colorado, the Nyland Community. Cohousing was pretty much a grassroots movement tehn. It started with people wanting to get together and build a neighborhood for themselves and few of their friends. It kept attracting people. It was based on the principles of running a neighborhood community for the benefit of all and a more sustainable lifestyle. These early communities like Nyland often needed professional help, not only design help but organizational help as well. So we focused on the business of organizing, designing and building housing primarily. We really found a way to partner with future residents.

The cohousing movement was brought from Denmark to the United States by architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durett. Because they were designers they have been instrumental in connecting the design and building profession with the cohousing movement, which, I think, made projects happen. It’s hard enough to build your own house, but try to build a custom neighborhood and get together with your neighbors and figure it all out. Cohousing is all about community. The design part is easy to grasp and there are a lot of good designers that can design it. But the challenge is really building the community, to plan how resdients interact with each other. Katie and Chuck did this planning through the design process. They got people involved in workshops and programmed their design for their community, which is also a stimulating thing that brought people in. We took that idea built on it. The groups now participate in a lot of decisions in their neighborhood. They also invest in it and take financial risks.

The new urbanist movement as Ronnie or Korkut mentioned has been around for about the same amount of time as cohousing, a little bit newer, but has been much more successful in reaching out and being recognized. Early on we saw the potential of overlaps as the new urbanist movement came on, because cohousing deals with the most proactive form of building a community. People were really proactive in wanting to connect with their neighbors and wanting to practice community right in their neighborhood.

A Short Story of Gateway Station

by James Hale

The site plan of the Highland Garden Village, Denver, prepared by Civitas Inc. Perry Rose is the developer. Hearthstone Cohousing Community is located on the southwest corner of Highland Garden Village. As indicated on the site plan, the community house is placed on a key location to be visible both from the cohousing and the neighborhood at large.

The first true new urbanist neighborhood that we put a cohousing community in with the theory that that community would become a valuable asset for the larger neighborhood, was the Hearthstone Cohousing Community in the Highlands Garden Village in Denver. We started working with it ten years ago. Perry Rose LLC of Denver, row home national developers, saw the potential with cohousing. Sure enough after we put the Hearthstone in, the common house became a community focus not only for heartstone residences but for the entire Highland Garden Village. Perry Rose LLC started to model a lot of things that the new urbanists were trying to do through design. They were trying to create community through walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods where community happens. I can tell you that community needs to happen with the people that are actually living there. The sequel to that is when the Holiday Neighborhood came along in North Boulder as a mixed neighborhood with affordable and market-rate homes. We were given one of the sites to work with as a developer and developed the Wild Sage Cohousing and Silver Sage Cohousing where I live.

If you really look at the issues and problems that our western culture is going through right now in America, you realize that you keep coming back to community. Somehow human beings have to learn how to connect with each other. If you look at how we connect, the most basic level is at the family and we haven’t been doing a very good job of that. The next step is really the neighbors and how much of your daily life you share with them. We have all had some experience with living together with others. For instance, you’ve had this experience if you’ve lived in a dormitory, the military, a rooming house, or even going camping together. You know it’s an enriching experience and also challenging one. Sometimes it is a pain. But, until we can get our culture to recognize that we have to connect, especially at this most basic level of the neighborhood, we can design the most beautiful and efficient environment in the world. However, it won’t work in the long run unless the people who live there make it happen.

Before I conclude I would like to briefly talk also of what we are doing here at Washington School. This building will be a part of Washington Village, a cohousing community. We are about to start the first phase with seven units in the school and six single family homes surrounding the park. We are putting together those initial community members now and are looking for more members. Thank you.

Rendering of the future Washington Village cohousing community.