The Cohousing Company

Happy Fall from Nevada City Cohousing

Exhilarating, Exciting, Exhausting

Chuck Durrett'sTrip to Europe, September 2023

My talk in Sólheimar Ecovillage, Iceland

ICELAND

The first leg of my trip in Iceland was full of inspiration and thought-provoking discussions. I am more dedicated than ever to rapidly write the book about the nexus between the well-being of folks with autism and their well-being by virtue of community, versus being isolated as is too often. This was my second time visiting Sólheimar Ecovillage, a model community for people with autism, Down syndrome, and other special needs. The care and love that they have for each other is palpable, and I know that so many people all around the world could benefit by living in a place like this. Through my time spent with the residents and the staff there, the benefits of living in an inclusive community for people of all abilities really sunk in. To help foster more neurodiverse communities like Sólheimar, I’m writing a book called One Life: Live It, that will feature how it started, how it functions today, and how more communities like this can be built. Reach out if you have recommendations for psychologists/specialists in the realm of special needs housing who might be interested in collaborating with us on this book.

Like anywhere, there’s room for better physical design at the Ecovillage. For example, the environment could be tighter-knit, with buildings closer together. Filling in the gaps with housing for staff and volunteers is the future.

I also ventured in and around the capital Reykjavík. One of the best cohousing presentations was to the Iceland Architects’ Association. They were engaged and enthusiastic! There has long been interest in starting new cohousing in Iceland, and now there are numerous architect/activists ready to get it started. The book Cohousing Communities: Designing for High-Functioning Communities was a real hit with them. They are not only interested in designing cohousing, but designing cohousing well.

My talk at Lund University. The students were lively and curious!

SWEDEN

On Tuesday, September 12^th, I presented to students and professors at the School of Architecture at Lund University, Sweden. Thanks to Andy Karvonen with Urban Arena for hosting us. The University was ready and willing and able to embrace more cohousing. They recognize that the early enthusiasts in Sweden have subsided, and are happy to embrace a new era of design with streamlined quality-making at the core.

Common dinner at Trudeslund, Birkerød.

DENMARK

Denmark was the highlight. I had a wonderful time visiting one of my favorite cohousing communities, Trudeslund, where I lived for 6 months back in 1984-85. Had an amazing dinner with my old neighbors in the common house (about 50 people attended) and a subsequent discussion about Danish and North American cohousing. They just celebrated their 43-year anniversary and still have common dinner there seven days a week! It’s a testament to successfully designed cohousing’s staying power.

Before common dinner, a couple other “Truders” and I walked down the block and visited the very small, 6-unit cohousing of Tornevangsgaarden (built in 1978). This happens to be the one that I walked by everyday on my way to the University of Copenhagen. Walking by Tornevangsgaarden in 1980 showed me how truly different living in cohousing is from living in status quo “brand X” type housing, and it's a big part of what started this story.

We were in the middle of the common green, when a young woman named Iben walked out to see who we were, what we were up to, and to introduce herself. Cohousing dynamics at play for sure! Iben gave us a wonderful tour around the grounds, inside their common house, and their lovely home.

In Copenhagen, I gave a talk to the future architects of Denmark at the Royal Danish Academy. I was a bit intimidated about taking a presentation to Denmark. Ended up doing about 5 or 6 presentations. They were all very welcome. It felt like I was restoring the original intent, high-functioning communities—not just real estate. Hans Skifter Andersen, one of the original Danish cohousing development consultants called me the guru of cohousing. It was too much really.

I could share the history with them that had been lost. Jan Gudmand-Høyer, Phillip Actantar and others, that were key at the onset. And it was recognized that we had been the only ones in the country who had spent the time to work with the architects that designed the best site plans, other architects that designed the best common houses, and other architects that designed the best houses, etc. which was missed in the new designs. They appreciated getting back to their roots of clear criteria-making.

One of the biggest takeaways is the need to find a synergetic and balanced approach for groups working with developers. Groups in Denmark are in the search of smart ways of working together where the developers are not making too many decisions (and inflicting too many rules) which results in projects taking longer, inappropriate designs, and not enough buy-in to create successful solutions. Most important is an organized decision-making process: this brings their real values and real experiences to the table, builds community along the way, and builds a strong group capable of their own management decisions throughout the process.

Chuck presenting at the UK Cohousing Network Summit

The UK

The UK Cohousing Network hosted their first in-person conference in 6 years, and I had the honor of being their Keynote Speaker. It was fun and informative at so many levels (government participation, UK cohousing participation, local housing councils, developers, lenders, etc.).

Owen Jarvis, CEO of the UK Cohousing Network and simply a wonderful guy, wrote a super summary of the most salient points I made in the keynote. Here are some of the key points from my talk, as summed up by Owen:



• Chuck describes cohousing as first and foremost a cultural act, and then a political act and thirdly as a development act.
• In his new book, he details his co-design process inspired by Danish anthropologists he has worked alongside. Throughout a 12-day/6-workshop process, Chuck remains attentive of the relationship between design choices and their impact on future lived experience.
• His aim is to create neighborhoods that fit the needs and aspirations of its residents “like a glove” rather than “like a shopping bag” typical of mainstream housing.
• “We want to create high-functioning neighborhoods that help us fulfill our potential. The original Danish design values and group processes are key to doing that.”
• See a full summary of the UK Cohousing Summit here

Chuck with the Residents of Cannock Mill Cohousing in Colchester, England

With Owen’s guidance and suggestions, I journeyed around the UK to visit four new cohousing communities (Cannock Mill, LILAC, ChaCo, and New Ground). All amazing places in their own ways, and all were incredibly warm and welcoming.

Common Dinner at the beautiful and inspiring New Ground Cohousing, a vibrant and thriving community for older women

I hope/expect that the Brits will have me back Summer/Fall of ‘24 to go through the process of designing high quality cohousing. They plan to film the workshops and to make it widely available. Stay tuned…

Other Updates in Cohousing: Table of Contents

October 2023

• East Van Cohousing Design Closure Recap
• New Forming Cohousing Communities in Port Townsend, WA
• Happily Ever Aftering - Review by Kate Nichols

East Van Cohousing Design Closure Workshop Recap

& their next steps forward

East Van Cohousing's Design Closure Workshop was a big success!

On the weekend of August 26th–27th, Charles Durrett of The Cohousing Company, consultant Amisto, and Little Mountain Cohousing hosted the Design Closure Design Workshop for the East Van Cohousing Group, and it was a great success!

This weekend was unlike any other Design Closure Workshop. In preparation for the workshop, we had been collaborating with Intelligent City – the local architect of the project, and they were a key contributor to the success of the workshop. Their expertise with Vancouver BC Code, as well as Mass Timber construction opened up many opportunities for creative and environmentally sustaining solutions for the group.

As the book Cohousing Communities 's cover implies, it only takes 2 things to build a cohousing community: a vision and a clear set of steps.

These good people took the steps in the deliberate fashion that gets projects built successfully and expeditiously.

New Forming Cohousing Community in Port Townsend, WA

Successful Public Presentation & Group Discussion

Charles Durrett traveled to Port Townsend, WA on October 11–13th to help a new forming cohousing community get started in their development and design journey.

On Thursday October 12^th night following the successful public presentation at the Quimper Grange, the group had a great conversation about affordable cohousing in Port Townsend. This was followed by another lovely conversation on Saturday morning at Port Townsend Library.

Port Townsend is ready, willing, and able to pull off another State-of-the-Art Cohousing (see the book by the same name). All that is needed there now is a capable grass roots organizing team to galvanize a Getting-It-Built Workshop in December or January.

Thank you very much to all of the organizers: Kate Nichols, Eva Holmes, & Liz Devord. If you’re interested in the new in-town project, please email Cinnamon at cinnamonlou@gmail.com . If you’re interested in the out-of-town project, please email Eva at eva@olympus.net.

Happily Ever Aftering in Cohousing

A Review by Kate Nichols

As the title of the book Happily Ever After in Cohousing- a Handbook for Community Living suggests, this book is an excellent resource for how to get the most happiness, or benefit, from the experience of living in cohousing. The book, written by Charles Durrett, with Bernice Gonzalez and Erik Bonnett, is an accumulation of information for what has worked and what has been difficult for cohousing communities. The book distills lessons learned into what works to create and keep a high-functioning community going.

 To make the book even more helpful there are graphics in the back of the book with flow charts that show the processes, such as the Process Flow Chart for Decision-Making and Roles and Responsibilities.

Although this book is written for people already living in cohousing, it is a great resource to read before jumping into the process of developing a cohousing community. It is helpful to understand how cohousing works and if it’s a good fit for you. It is also a good resource to learn how to make the best decisions while designing the physical community.

In cohousing, “moments of joy are what make life worth living."

-Review by Kate Nichols

Kate Nichols helped start and build a cohousing community in Bellingham, Washington, and is starting a new one in Port Townsend, WA. For more information about the new cohousing that she is starting, feel free to shoot her an email at katennichols@yahoo.com



Books by Charles Durrett

Books have played a major role from the beginning in terms of getting cohousing to this country and built in your town, starting with our first book Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves (The European Story). Bookstores normally play a key role in culture change in general, and cohousing is no exception.



Many groups have contacted the publisher (New Society Press and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) directly to get bulk discounts, and I find that successful projects get started when lots of folks do this fun homework. I usually need to give a dozen copies of Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities, Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living and Cohousing Communities: Designing for High-Functioning Neighborhoods away to planners, banks, neighbors, mayors, new residents, local architects, builders, and so on—to give them context. It saves the group thousands and thousands of hours, dollars, and delays, and most importantly makes for a better project.

Cohousing is more than a sound bite; it is cultural pivot, and it takes folks doing some fun research first. Seattle and the surrounding areas have about a dozen cohousing communities today largely because the bookstores in town have sold more than 1,000 copies of Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities and the San Francisco area has over 20 cohousing communities largely because the book has sold more than 2,000 copies there.

Cohousing Communities: Designing for High-Functioning Neighborhoods

A Solution to Homelessness in Your Town

Also available HERE

Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities

with Kathryn McCamant

Revitalizing Our Small Towns

Cohousing's role in positively effecting waning small towns.

The Senior Cohousing Handbook: A Community Approach to Independent Living

Also available in Spanish

State-Of-The-Art Cohousing: Lessons Learned from Quimper Village

with Alexandria Levitt

Happily Ever Aftering in Cohousing: A Handbook for Community Living

Facilitator Guide - Senior Cohousing Study Group 1 Guides

Finding A Site: Cohousing From the Ground Up



Participant Guide - Senior Cohousing Study Group 1 Guides

Growing Community: How to Find New Cohousing Members

Architecture for Ageing Population

The Cohousing Company Website