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Benefits of a Community-Centered Neighbourhood
The Coastal Village will be an inclusive, earth-friendly neighbourhood that fosters supportive relationships, cooperation and fun!
Unique Neighbourhood
The community-centered neighbourhood called “cohousing” originated in Denmark, and has been promoted in North America since the early 1980’s by architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett. This Danish model for ”living in neighbourhood” spread quickly, because one can find thousands of cohousing neighbourhoods worldwide – spreading from Denmark throughout Europe, to North America, Australia and elsewhere.
In our community-centered neighbourhood, we know who lives on the next floor because we manage the community budget and eat together regularly. We gratefully accept a ride when our car is in the shop and trust enough to leave our 4-year-old with almost any neighbour. We will strive to create a village of all ages where neighbours know and support each other.
Community-centered people generally aspire to “improve the world, one neighbourhood at a time.” In our neighbourhood, we will work together to enrich our lives and improve our surroundings. We will build our strong community through relationships, supported by thoughtful building design.
Why Choose a Community-Centered Neighbourhood?
Community-centered neighbourhoods provide solutions for many of contemporary society’s challenges:
- Nurturing Community: Humans thrive when in close physical and emotional proximity to others. When it comes to quality of life and good health, relationships are paramount. Our neighbourhood will create intangible social connections among us as well as empowered interdependence.
- Increasing Environmental Sensitivity: Energy costs are reduced with environmentally friendly structures, shared resources and a sustainable approach. Greenhouse gases are reduced.
- Enhancing Life: Shared activities such as food preparation, child care and household maintenance will give us a more secure and relaxed life. Sharing delights of conversation, meals, and milestones will also contribute to reducing stress and increasing joy.
Designed Specifically to Promote Community
- Members will participate in the design of your living space, as well as the physical design of the site. The goal is to strike a good balance between privacy and community, independence and social connection.
- Neighbours commit to relationships among one another, therefore, most community-centered neighbourhoods use some form of consent as the basis for group decision-making. We plan to use the Sociocracy governance model for decision-making.
- Our shared Community House spaces will provide many opportunities for spontaneous meetings between residents, as well as deliberate gatherings. There will be great places for hanging out, eating together, celebrating, entertaining and holding informal and business meetings.
- Ideally, we will generally share optional group meals in the Community House kitchen several times a week. Much of the “business” and fun of our community will take place during these meals.
- We will choose to work together to care for our shared community property, thus building cooperation, trust, and support.
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