Intentional communities may offer solutions for loneliness and other problems of an atomized society

Having housemates is not the ideal living arrangement for everyone, including some modern day ‘golden girls’ (like myself). For those wanting their own space, but seeking the benefits of community and camaraderie, cohousing is a viable alternative.

We should build co-housing on a large scale. But even if we don’t, we could start reshaping the contours of our hyperindividualist and antimaternalist landscapes so as to encourage solidarity and fellow feeling rather than aloofness.

Cohousing also can provide a safety net at times of natural disasters like heat waves or hurricanes. Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist, has found that the tight-knit bonds that are formed set these neighborhoods apart — more so, even, than money or preparedness — in effectively surviving such calamities.

Featured on The Atlantic's How to Talk to People podcast

Featured on The Atlantic's How to Talk to People Podcast

Sometime during the pandemic lockdowns, I began to nurture a fantasy: What if I were neighbors with all of my friends?

Mendell enjoys Bristol Village’s built-in network of support and camaraderie. “I love living in cohousing. It’s really a throwback to the days when children could feel free to play outside, knock on anyone’s door and expect to be welcomed.”

Indeed in Denmark, multigenerational cohousing was the original spark for the creation of senior cohousing. And while cohousing will likely remain the province of a small segment of the population, other residential developments might benefit from some of its principles and its processes.

In cohousing communities, revolutionary parenting can be subtle to the point of invisibility—slipping into a seat at the kitchen table of a neighbor’s house for dinner at the last minute when a parent gets stuck at work, talking about getting your period for the first time with an aunt-like figure, or stumbling on a neighbor fixing a fence and hanging out alongside her to learn how to use a saw.