Cohoung Research Paper

Cohousing in the U.S: The Neighborhood of the Future?

Imagine for a moment what it would be like to live in a community where you know everyone who lives there, not just a passing hello in the street to a fellow neighbor, but really know who they were. Where are the communities in which our parents and grandparents lived, in neighborhoods where everyone knew each other, safety was not an issue, children on the block played together, and adults socialized over dinner? Our twenty-first century neighborhoods can be alienating and isolating. Some people long for the communities of times gone by, so much that there is a minor yet stirring movement to utilize the values of the more neighbor friendly communities of the early twentieth century. One such effort to create a friendlier, more secure child and even multi-generational supportive environment is cohousing. Cohousing is a type of
There are about 5,000 residents total, says the Cohousing Association of the Untied States. Cohousing can be found all over the country but most are clustered on the east and west coast, and in college towns. (Kornblum, Janet. "Shared lives, shared space." USA Today & Stoeljte Fletcher, Melissa "Cohousing feeds the need for interaction: An idea that is taking hold all over the nation is gaining popularity in Wisconsin" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Cohousing addresses the need for change away from the disconnected communities of our present day world. It is a fairly new phenomenon involving a very small percentage of the U.S population, though not for everyone, it can provide some workable solutions for some dissatisfied Americans. As more people become tired of their dissatisfaction, remembering the warm stories their parents and grandparents told of a friendlier neighborhoods with unlocked doors, perhaps many more will reach out and knock on cohousing's open