I live in a corner of North America, the Canadian province of Quebec, where a lot of good news is missed by the wider English-speaking community for a lack of translation; the history of La Maison des RebElles is one of those stories. La Maison des RebElles, which translates to…

This is one of a series of essays related to collaborative housing, also known as cohousing. For more information, see the introduction here. When cohousing is described, there is often a list of characteristics, which includes one negation — no shared income. This negation…

This is one of a series of essays related to cohousing. For more information, see the introduction here. A goal for many communities in their forming and development stage is to welcome a diverse group of people from multiple generations. This is well and good, and if this is a…

This is one of a series of essays related to collaborative housing, also known as cohousing. For more information, see the introduction here. Without fail, when I talk with people about collaborative housing or any kind of more intentional community-led development process, the issue of conflict emerges. Most often this…

IT IS POPULAR today to claim that polity is giving way to tribalism, whether of the partisan or lifestyle-politics variety, making a widely shared understanding of the challenges we face, and the possible solutions to them, feel out of reach. In such a situation it would seem foolhardy to try…

I was very honored to be asked to talk at the most recent Chancellor’s Builders and Friends Dinner on October 25, 2018. I was asked to speak about my research into cohousing and it’s relationship to the concept of smart cities. It’s just 3 mins long, so as a person…

This is part of a series of essays related to cohousing. For more information, see the introduction here. A neighbourhood development project As mentioned in a previous posting, but worth mentioning again — cohousing communities are not custom housing projects, they are custom neighbourhood projects. As an individual in an individualist society, it can…

This is part of a series of essays related to cohousing. For more information, see the introduction here. The dining area in the common house is not a restaurant. The dining rooms of cohousing communities are often multi-purpose spaces. Yes, community members prepare meals and eat together in these spaces, but they also meet, plan, and play in these spaces. The…

Learn how to be a better neighbor before moving in and continue to work on these skills while in community. This is one of a series of essays related to cohousing. For more information, see the introduction here. There is an oft-cited quote that circulates in cohousing communities and it goes something like this: “Cohousing is the most expensive personal growth course I ever took — but it came with…