The Emergence and Status of Cohousing across North America

Jane Nichols (High Point University)

• The topic is cohousing as a North American archetype that is fast emerging as an option for senior housing.
• Cohousing is a unique model that links housing with neighborhood design and a community-value driven lifestyle. Cohousing provides a distinctive ability to address issues associated with aging, making this a significant topic for our growing population of older adults. The participatory process of cohousing planning demonstrates the cultivation of social capital and its’ consequential potential for more livable communities.
• The first cohousing community was built in Denmark in 1972, with a philosophy of “Every child should have 100 parents”. The future of elder cohousing in North America is premised on, every elder should have 100 close-by friends. Cohousing is a design trend that can change the face and future of housing, and potentially improve the quality of life of millions of people
• My education and background in environmental design and gerontology, and my research in cohousing and senior housing spans two decades, toggling between the academy, action research and practice.

Cohousing is rapidly emerging as a North American archetype of neighborhood-based housing, expanding across 47 US states and 6 Canadian provinces. Cohousing has been a successful model implemented extensively for thirty years throughout Scandinavia and the Netherlands, and was introduced to the U.S. by architects Charles Durrett and Kathryn McCamant through their book, "Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves" (1988). Typical cohousing attributes in the past centered on shared parenting and intergenerational living, while the current North American trend is focused on elder friendly communities and aging-in-place. The neighborhood designs vary, but usually consist of townhomes or small, single-family homes clustered around shared common areas, including a ‘common house’ space that acts as the community center. The common house contains a large communal kitchen and dining room where residents prepare and share scheduled meals and events. Elder cohousing is considered to be an attractive alternative to traditional retirement communities, and often carries expectations and opportunities for resident co-caring and mutual support.

In addition to an extensive literature review, the researcher will share strategies, best practices and findings from a five-year field study conducted in Arizona, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington. The investigation reveals community photo-documentaries, cohousing resident interviews, notes from workshops with Charles Durrett, and action research that includes the development of three cohousing communities. Learning outcomes will include:

• Methods of social-capital construction, from community forming to building, to the extensive participatory design process, to community maintenance and support
• The concept of elder cohousing as a viable and exciting option for aging-in-place, with social capital investment and co-caring as emerging trends
• Principles and practices of the cohousing community dynamic governance process and models: consent/consensus; majority-rule; and sociocracy
• Annotated illustrations of architectural attributes and design characteristics of built and developing cohousing, extracted from design-building plans and documents of cohousing residents, design professionals, scholars and students of cohousing.
• The economic viability and high resale value of cohousing, with a summary from The 2010 Report on Affordable Cohousing.