A Growing Pocket Neighborhood Trend: What is Co-Housing?
Cohousing in the MetroABQ
As the MetroABQ becomes more populated, smart infill is a key to comfortable urban living. Many Albuquerque neighborhoods typically consist of single-family suburban homes & apartments, with little by way of public space encouraging personal interaction.
In the 1960's, a few innovative designers in Denmark began addressing this general urban disparity by combining important elements of different neighborhoods into cohousing communities, & pocket neighborhoods focusing on cohousing have been evolving ever since.
From the book Pocket Neighborhoods, creating small-scale community in a large-scale world, author Ross Chaplin compiles & describes different types of pocket neighborhoods. A few chapters describe cohousing concepts. Some important threads include a "central pedestrian (public) area with homes looking on, a common house for dining & recreation, & cars limited to the periphery." Often the one-&-two-story attached houses are clustered, preserving space for playing fields, gardens & other public spaces. Chaplin mentions that for cohousing, a reasonably small number of houses, 12-30, perhaps, seems to work best.
Each home is privately owned, with independant incomes & private lives. However, residents collectively own all the public facilities like a common house, gardens, rec room, & all outdoor public spaces. The sharing of these public places fosters a sense of belonging in a community.
An existing cohousing community lives next to La Montaita Coop in the North Valley on Rio Grande. Acequia Jardn includes 10 houses all clustered around a central greenspace, with a guest casita for residents' guests. Each cohousing community provides different amenities depending on the space & location. At Acequia Jardn, "Home ownership includes a one-tenth share of the community garden, guest casita, community room & common lands." There are community flower & vegetable gardens, along with numerous other amenities.
Below are some images of the community. Notice the above-ground rainwater catchment cistern, which captures rooftop rainwater & stores it for the gardens. More, go here...
