Why don't we live together?

[razz]

We have touched at different times about housing lifestyles. This CBC https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/why-d...rket-1.5979554 article nicely summarizes all the reasons for co-housing. It includes input from architects, researchers in co-housing around the world and social scientists as well as an author.


After living on over a 100 acres of property, I had a hard time thinking downsize and loss of privacy. I walked around condo living and walked away. Covid challenges have made me very grateful for the space to move freely around in my house and yard.
Will the cost of housing drive this trend? Would you live in a co-housing arrangement? I won't at present but may change my mind.

Quotes:
"Everyone having their own private space, their own private backyard — it's really unique in history. It's a relatively recent phenomenon," according to urbanist Diana Lind, author of Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing.

While there's a health concern to some shared spaces right now, advocates believe that more co-living — such as group-owned houses, co-ops, rentals with common kitchens and workspaces, communes and co-housing communities — can diversify urban housing options and increase affordability.

Sharing domestic space is not as radical as it sounds. Historically, humans have lived collectively, communally and in multigenerational spaces.

It's single-family homes that are the exception.

Lind notes that they are a 20th century phenomenon, built for post-war nuclear families and the car culture of the time.

"This is not the way that we've lived for most of humanity."
She says our demographic realities now support the need for change.

The 2016 Canadian census revealed a majority of households consist of one to two people with smaller and less traditional family households on the rise. That's also true of the United States, U.K. and other European countries, as well as Japan.

Immigration and social changes have reshaped our configurations of family, too.

With the work and social future in flux, Lind argues that we need to rethink an urban housing supply that she said is designed for the past.

A network of communal living houses in San Francisco, the Haight Street Commons, has been a special focus for Bhatia and Steinmuller.

More than a dozen Victorian houses and warehouses have been converted into hundreds of rental rooms with substantial common space.

They also share an intentional approach to living.

Steinmuller said these "communes 2.0" differ in some ways from their 1960s ancestors. "

[LDAHL]

There’s nothing preventing people from creating communal living situations if they want to; except perhaps zoning in some areas. For the most part they don’t want to. I have lived in dorms, barracks and shared apartments, but didn’t particularly enjoy it. I prefer to make my own rules.

[Teacher Terry]

No way would I do it. I am a extrovert and think it would be a living hell.

[JaneV2.0]

I'm with LDAHL, though I can see the inevitability of some kind of shared housing in my future--maybe a condo. Teacher Terry's "living hell" pretty much sums up my take on it, as well.

"This is not the way that we've lived for most of humanity." is not a compelling reason for me to live like the Golden Girls.

[herbgeek]

I am a extrovert and think it would be a living hell.

I'm an introvert and I think this would be a living hell too. In every group situation I've been a part of, there's at least one faction that takes advantage of, or is loud/disrespectful of the rules or some other kind of annoying. From taking up more than their fair share of space, to ugly gossiping, to assuming others will pick up their slack, to always asking for favors but never granting them. It goes on and on. I like having the ability to walk away from that nonsense.

When I am old and infirm I may not have the choice about communal/congregate living, but until then, no thanks.

[iris lilies]

People have enough trouble “living together” in apartment houses and condo buildings. Following a set of rules seems to be a problem.

Hell, we have nearly weekly discussions about acrimony in household living arrangements with people we are related to by birth or marriage.

[JaneV2.0]

Since demographics indicate households are becoming smaller, maybe builders should consider offering more small houses rather than social engineers trying to talk us all into co-housing. Given a choice, I would prefer a small house on a small lot to condo living, but those are next to non-existent around here.

[bae]

In my ideal living situation, I'd have a small (~1000 sq. ft. or less) cabin with basic functions, on a larger plot of land shared with other members of my "tribe" with communal larger-scale cooking facilities, entertainment facilities, workshops, farmland/gardens, shared tools/vehicles, and so on.

I tried to create such a community with like-minded friends in the Santa Cruz mountains of CA in the 1980s, but zoning forbid it.

The key above was "tribe" - I doubt it would be at all interesting to me, or pleasant, if the people in the community were random folks.

[JaneV2.0]

Friends of mine and I fantasize about having a "compound," turning up unaffordable plots of land with massive dwellings. I always say I'll take a trailer on the back forty.

[Teacher Terry]

I have lived in 2 condo complexes that were pleasant experiences. The lady from the title company said she has friends where I will live and they love it. All 3 are older complexes by the same builder and they are very soundproof.