2006 National Cohousing Conference - A weekend of collaboration and celebration in Chapel Hill, NC
Editor’s note: Donna Freiermuth is the newly appointed editor of Cohousing Magazine (more on that later) and the founder of a forming group in Ventura, CA. She is also a writer, editor and web designer.
Imagine that your cohousing group just found a site and you have the chance to hear three of the most experienced cohousing developers in the United States offer you pointers on how to finance your project. Or imagine meeting someone who is willing to tell you about the agreements that will keep your group from self-destructing – because he’s lived in community 32 years and has given it a lot of thought. Or maybe you’d like to hear from two experts about how to make your project more affordable. Or perhaps...
Welcome to the sixth national Cohousing Conference, where nearly 250 attendees spent three intensive days learning about what it takes to create and sustain today’s new old-fashioned neighborhoods. Cohousing pioneers, professionals and practitioners converged on Chapel Hill, NC, on July 21-23 for a weekend of collaboration and celebration hosted by the Cohousing Association of the United States (Coho/US).
A show of hands at one of the general sessions suggested that every region of the United States was represented, along with Canada and Australia. The conference drew a good mix of people already living in cohousing and those in forming groups. A few hardy souls turned up who were completely new to cohousing but wanted to learn more.
Everything you’d want to know about cohousing
Just about all of the notable individuals associated with cohousing were on hand to lead presentations. The expertise offered and the broad range of topics they tackled had much to do with the conference’s success. Coho/US had hoped to bring together at least 150 people; in fact 245 attended. While “Living in Cohousing – A Model for a Sustainable Planet” was the official theme of the conference, the unofficial emphasis was to share as much valuable information as possible during the three-day gathering.
The caliber of the experts on hand was apparent during the kickoff presentation Friday evening, which featured a panel of five well known writers. Panelists included Chuck Durrett, author of Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living; Chris ScottHanson, author of The Cohousing Handbook: Building a Place for Community; Liz Walker, author of EcoVillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture; and David Wann, author of Reinventing Community: Stories from the Walkways of Cohousing. The panel was moderated by CoHousing Partners’ Katie McCamant, who coauthored Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves, with her husband Chuck Durrett – the book that launched the North American cohousing movement in 1988.
Those authorities were augmented by the likes of Wonderland Hills’ Jim Leach with his 30 years of development experience; Zev Paiss and Neshama Abraham Paiss, nationally recognized cohousing consultants; and Diana Leafe Christian, editor of Communities Magazine and author of Creating A Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities. Other presenters included architect Giles Blunden, with more than three decades of experience designing houses utilizing sustainable design principles and the person behind North Carolina’s Arcadia and Pacifica cohousing communities; Tree Bressen, a group process facilitator from Walnut Street Co-op in Eugene, OR; and Laird Schaub, executive director of the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC) and a group process consultant.
Saturday morning began with an overview by Rick Mockler, Coho/US president. “With the recognition and experience gained through cohousing projects built over the past 20 years, it is much easier for new projects coming up today,” he explained. “The experience of built communities, professionals and local planning departments all help smooth the way. Today, when a forming group finds a suitable piece of land, the question no longer is can we do it, but how fast?”
North Carolina State Senator Ellie Kinnaird then welcomed the participants. Her years as a local and statewide political leader let her speak with ease about how to work with government to get your community built.
During the three-day conference, informal conversations, small groups and pairs sprung up everywhere to share notes. The conference bookstore run by the Fellowship for Intentional Communities and the Cohousing Association was a popular gathering place, as was the “The Doctor Is In” booth, staffed by various cohousing experts who answered questions and offered mini-consultations.
Thirty breakout sessions offered something for everyone
Breakout sessions occupied most of the rest of the conference. They were presented in four tracks for specific audiences – newer forming groups, forming groups that have identified a site, people already living in cohousing and cohousing professionals – plus a general interest track.
Those in young forming groups learned about effective membership policies, conflict resolution techniques and the importance of community vision and purpose. “How-to” sessions included planning for great meetings, setting green goals and marketing new communities.
People in forming groups with an identified site chose from an equally impressive lineup of sessions, including marketing to the mainstream, a primer on financing, key decisions during construction, reaching agreements, and crafting community policies for life after move-in.
Sessions earmarked for people already living in cohousing covered such topics as financial management, making unit resales work for the community, permaculture, common meals, getting the work done in community and the benefits of regional cohousing networks.
The track for cohousing professionals began with a panel on senior cohousing with Chuck Durrett, Jim Leach, Dene Peterson (the dynamo behind ElderSpirit Community in Abingdon, VA) and Neshama Abraham Paiss. Other sessions focused on how to avoid cohousing shipwrecks, renewable energy, facilitation skills for design professionals, and next steps for new professionals.
General interest topics included lessons learned from the Danish model, how to create traditions in community, designing for diversity and accessibility and a look at 20 years of sustainable living.
Pre-conference workshops and bus tours
Six pre-conference workshops were offered Friday, covering site design, a primer on development, project management, conflict resolution and facilitation, and how to include cohousing in larger developments.
Among the most popular pre-conference offerings were bus tours of four nearby cohousing communities:
Eno Commons, Durham, with a double row of picturesque, single-family homes and duplexes and half its 11 acres in open meadow and woods
Solterra, Durham, with each house independently designed by a different architect
Arcadia, Carrboro, with custom-designed homes following similar architectural standards to achieve an interesting “Carrboro Vernacular” style
Pacifica, Carrboro, which just completed its first phase of construction of vibrantly colored homes, with a second phase slated for completion at year-end
or anyone who hasn’t taken a cohousing bus tour, the experience is eye-opening. The tours not only allow that invaluable glimpse into communities that have successfully turned base materials into gold, but the fact sheets passed out on the bus beforehand answer many questions about each community: the time it took to develop, the amenities they offer, demographic details, and specifics about how they govern themselves.
(Go to the Tours page to find out about future cohousing bus tours in your region.)
Every stop offers new possibilities to emulate and a few lessons on what to avoid. Each home at Eno Commons is heated and cooled by a geothermal (ground-source) heat pump, the most efficient, low maintenance heating and cooling system. A children’s room in one common house featured a whole-wall blackboard. Arcadia was just replacing its common house’s expensive commercial stove with easier-to-use residential models.
The tours were so popular that the organizers traded up to a 55-passenger bus to carry all the registrants. Even then, nearly every seat was filled for both the morning and afternoon tours. And for those who missed Friday’s field trips, all four communities welcomed attendees during open houses held after the conference ended Sunday afternoon.
North Carolina hospitality and bluegrass
On Saturday night, conference attendees kicked up their heels at a festive dinner that featured silent and live auctions, followed by dancing to a bluegrass band.
Another thread that ran throughout the weekend was the uncommon generosity of those who made the conference possible. The 30 presenters were paid nothing more than a small credit at the bookstore for their invaluable contributions. They even paid the standard rate to attend the conference. And the contribution of four sustaining sponsors – Abraham Paiss & Associates, Inc., Kraus-Fitch Architects, Inc., McCamant & Durett Architects, and Wonderland Hill Development Company – can’t be overstated.
Likewise, the handful of volunteers who spent more than a year planning the conference number also deserve thanks, most notably Joani Blank, who headed up the conference planning.
New friends and lasting connections
Toward the end of the weekend, participants raved about how much they had learned from the conference, and the meaningful connections they had made with cohousing enthusiasts nationwide. “Face-to-face gatherings like this, whether they are national, regional or local, are just an extension of what we're doing together in community,” Blank said.
During Sunday’s midday closing session, Katie McCamant offered a look at the challenges and opportunities that the cohousing movement faces. Rick Mockler’s closing comments mentioned the need for more connection between existing communities and Coho/US. The conference ended with one last go at knowledge sharing. Participants paired off to describe the one nugget they would take away from the conference and to share what’s next for them.
Sunday afternoon found the tired attendees waiting for shuttles and taxis to the airport. “I had no idea how valuable the conference would be,” one participant said. “I’m kicking myself because I could have come to the earlier conferences.”
Ironically, that same day, the New York Times featured a commentary by Ben Stein that looked at the deterioration in American values, from war profiteering to preferential option pricing. He suggested that it has something to do with how the neighborhood where he grew up compared with where he lives now. In his childhood, Stein writes, “every family knew every other family, and every mom would take care of anyone’s kid sent home from school.”
Not anymore. “I have lived in my house for eight years and know only one neighbor. If our son got sick at school and my wife or I were not home, the school nurse would just have to keep him until we could be found. There is not one neighbor on the street who would take him in, or who even knows him.”
Ben Stein obviously doesn’t living in cohousing.
Related pages: Cohousing Association
