What is cohousing?
Cohousing is a way of living which brings individuals and families together in groups to share common aims and activities while also enjoying their own self-contained accommodation and personal space.
Cohousing communities are a means of compensating for the alienating effects of modern life where neighbours don't recognise each other and where day-to-day collaboration is minimal. They offer particular benefits for children in terms of secure play-space and shared activities with their peers. Older people can also find companionship and mutual support in such communities.
The main features of cohousing communities are:
- They are set up and run by their members for mutual benefit
- Members are consciously committed to living as a community
- Developments are designed to encourage social contact and a sense of neighbourhood among members.
- Common space facilitates shared activities like community meals and other amenities like laundries, heating systems, guest rooms, transport, etc may be shared
Cohousing in the UK
There is a rapidly-growing UK interest in cohousing - take a look at our map of UK projects. There are an increasing number of groups seeking sites and many individuals seeking a group to join. There are eight fully-established cohousing communities in the UK: Springhill in Stroud, the Community Project in Laughton, near Lewes, Thundercliffe Grange near Rotherham, Canon Frome in Wiltshire and the Threshold Centre in Dorset. Smaller cohousing schemes include Stroud Co-flats, Frankleigh co-flats and The Courtyards near Bradford upon Avon. All are based on owner-occupation, although the Stroud community has three shared ownership units. It is difficult to pin down the exact number of groups as they are constantly in flux. We estimate there are 25 - 30 forming groups currently functioning, with another tier of up to 60 loose coalitions interested in cohousing.
To find out more, to register with us, and learn what this site can do for you, click here...The UK Cohousing Network website is a repository of information from many people. When reading an article, note whether it has an author beneath the title. If it does, that piece is the author's own views. This site hopes to encourage the sharing of as many viewpoints as possible so we can support each other in developing cohousing. But note that only un-named articles can be attributed to the UK Cohousing Network.
Springhill photo © Alexander Caminada.
Meet Leeds's eco pioneers
Thu, 08/26/2010 - 21:08 — AlanGreat article in the Yorkshire Evening Post:
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Meet-Leeds39s-eco-pioneers.64...
Mixed-Tenure Cohousing - seminar presentation - July 2010
Mon, 08/23/2010 - 17:52 — KatePlease see powerpoint presentation from seminar on mixed-tenure cohousing - 22 July 2010
'Cohousing Home and Abroad'
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Creating Cohousing Together - conference presentations - April 2010
Sun, 08/22/2010 - 17:45 — KatePlease see powerpoint presentations from cohousing conference on 24 April 2010
'Recent Developments in Cohousing'
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'NESTA Senior Cohousing Programme'
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Scandinavian Cohousing - report on conference and visits to communities - May 2010
Wed, 08/18/2010 - 15:46 — adminInternational Collaborative Housing Conference, May 2010, Stockholm and Cohousing Tour of Sweden and Denmark
Is Postlip your kind of life?
Mon, 08/16/2010 - 16:07 — sandymcmillan
Would you like to...
... own part of a Jacobean manor? ... bring up your children in fifteen acres of freedom and opportunity? ... eat home-grown organic vegetables and fresh eggs? ... be entertained by musical & dramatic events in the Great Hall & Tithe Barn? ... join with us to get great pleasure from an amazing and beautiful place?
And would you enjoy...
... gardening organically in a walled garden? ... caring for chickens, sheep and Gloucester Old Spot pigs? ... maintaining and preserving a Grade 1 listed historic building? ... rebuilding drystone walls, mowing lawns and weeding flower borders? ... running the Cotswold Beer Festival and other public events? ... taking your share of community activities and meetings?
Postlip's 40th Anniversary - and a big family unit for sale
Mon, 08/16/2010 - 10:57 — sandymcmillanThe Postlip Community celebrated its 40th birthday on July 3rd 2010, underlining our claim to be the oldest UK cohousing group. Postlippers old and new converged in brilliant sunshine on the tennis court glade and people who hadn’t seen one another for twenty years or more hugged and drank champagne. People who grew up here brought their children to play in the woods where they had played and the air was loud with “And do you remember when…? We drank to the absent friends around the world who couldn’t make it back, and to the next forty years.
Invitation: new cohousing group in Oxford, next meeting 24th August
Sun, 08/15/2010 - 16:44 — fran ryanOxford CoHousing Group is a newly formed group, actively seeking out new members and land (ideally for new build) in, or very close to Oxford. If you are interested in joining or know of any potential sites in this area, please make contact with us via Fran Ryan 07889 209448, f...@peopleincharge.co.uk (click on 3 blue dots to get full email.)
If you would like to attend our next meeting at 7-9 pm on Tuesday, August 24th phone Fran Ryan (07889 209448) for details and for an update on where we have got to after our first two meetings.
Cohousing Internships in US for Architects
Tue, 08/10/2010 - 11:38 — adminFollowing the successful visit and sharing of expert cohousing knowledge by US architects Katie McCamant and Chuck Durrett in April 2010, interest was expressed in the possibility of internships for UK architects.
MIXED-TENURE COHOUSING: EXCITING PROGRESS
Mon, 08/09/2010 - 14:36 — adminThere was a buzz of excitement at the July 22 half-day conference in London, organised by the UK Cohousing Network. The theme was ‘Speeding the growth of Mixed-tenure Cohousing’, and there was a clear sense at this event that cohousing is moving rapidly from a bright idea into an attractive method of delivering the new priority of self-organised housing.
