This is not my beautiful house : cohousing as an alternative American Dream

Abstract

This work addresses my hopes and concerns about what a community could be. Somerville housing is made up largely of rental properties. As in any rental housing endeavor the occupants consider themselves lucky if the monthly rent is reasonable and the property is well cared for. They arc considered extremely lucky if their neighbors arc amiable and they arc able to establish a community of friends in the neighborhood. Currently there is little one can do to control rent or improve the prospects of becoming a homeowner, let alone location of friends or the coalescing of a community. In the past ten to fifteen years the word "cohousing" has been used to describe a strategy that attempts to redress the problems of rising housing costs, work vs. family time, and community isolation. This idea although it has gained strength in Denmark is by no means new. Old models such as the Kibbutz aDd Pueblo Indian dwellings have long made use of the collective eHorts of the community to liberate the time and energy of the individual. The challenge for cohousing in the United States is to address longstanding cultural and societal expectations of the autonomous single-family home. Although many people may yearn for the familiarity that a strong community or neighborhood brings this should in no way challenge the privacy of the home. Melding this idea of autonomy with the making of a community is at once paradoxical yet at the very center of what cohousing could be in the United States. This thesis is an exploration of what a cohousing/cooperative living community could be in an urban environment. I &m also attempting to define the role of an autonomous housing type in a communal setting, and in doing this redress the expectations of owning a single-family home. This notion of autonomy also extends to the layers between a communal entity and the surrounding neighborhood.