Page 6 - C.A.L.L. #32 - Summer 2010

Over the following pages we feature a couple of articles on Co-housing projects in
the U.K. and the U.S. It seems that Co-housing has become a popular response to the
dual concerns of environmental degradation and alienation in contemporary western
society.

Communal living: Love thy neighbourhood

Miles Brignall, The Guardian, Saturday 24 October 2009

Share your car, share childcare costs, share energy bills, but still enjoy the privacy
of your own home. Welcome to the new age of communal living.

Does identikit suburban life leave you cold? Do you long for your children to grow up
as part of a bigger community, where there's always help close at hand? Perhaps you
are just looking to live a simpler, low-carbon existence, complete with your own space
but surrounded by like-minded people?
If any of this strikes a chord with you, it could be time to consider joining one of the
co-housing/communal living projects that are undergoing something of a renaissance.
For years, the concept has been
falsely tarnished by the 70s

cliches: religious fanatics or
groups of hippies dropping out of
society to do their own thing.
While some plainly fell into that
category, many of the
communities that have survived
have evolved into successful
businesses, including organic
farms or alternative conference
centres. Communal living appeals to Chris Coates and fellow future

Today, those living in co-housing residents at Lancaster Cohousing Network.
projects are just as likely to have
a conventional job, and occupy their own space, as they are to be spending their time
growing vegetables or living in a tepee.
At the heart of most of the newest schemes is the sense of being part of a like-
minded community but retaining your personal space.
The most recent example of the modernisation of the concept can be seen in
Lancaster. A group of potential co-housees have bought a former industrial site
outside the city, where they plan to build a group of 30 eco-houses, complete with
communal area. The scheme is a modern take on communal living that could have a
wide appeal.
Already 21 houses have been taken, but the Lancaster project is still looking for

another nine families or individuals to join them.
Chris Coates, one of its co-founders and something of a leading light in co-housing
circles, says the purchase of the former engineering works and industrial units in the

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