Co-housing communities are founded to make friendly and close neighborhoods, but often they also are friendly to the environment. Photo courtesy of Sunward
A new housing movement, called co-housing, is beginning to establishitself in the Great Lakes region. Co-housing is chiefly a socialexperiment, a new way to build a community. But as the Great LakesRadio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports, often co-housing alsoincorporates an environmentally friendly approach:
Transcript
A new housing movement called co-housing is beginning to establish itself in
the Great Lakes region. Co-housing is chiefly a social experiment, a new way
to build a community. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports… often co-housing also incorporates an environmentally
friendly approach.
(Sound of crickets and steps on gravel)
Just outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ruth Carey is showing us
two still
ponds nestled in the hill prairie meadows near her home.
“There’s a great blue heron that for the last two years has been in
the are for most of the summer. I’ve seen it several mornings during this
month down here in the larger pond.”
Carey’s home is one of forty townhouse-like units in a co-
housing complex
called sunward. Sunward is an intentional community. People
who want to know
their neighbors in a real and up close way buy homes here.
They also buy
access to a central common house and kitchen if they choose
to use them and
freedom to roam the woods and meadows around the housing
units. Ruth Carey
says preserving the land was important.
“Well, about use of land is probably one of the primary reasons that
we’re here, because this community thought carefully about the use of these
20 acres and purposely built housing on only about three-and-a-half or four
acres of it so the rest could be the woods and stay the woods and a lot of
it could be in open prairie and there could be open space. And it’s an
important consideration for my husband and me both in terms of where we live
and how the land is used.”
The use of the land was one of the first considerations in
planning the
co-housing units. Michael McIntyre is one of Carey’s
neighbors and was
involved in the early planning of the community.
“One of the key attractions of this site in addition to all of the
natural beauty of the woods and the ponds and the meadows that were already
here was that there was an existing abandoned gravel pit right in the middle
of the site which was sizeable enough to do our housing development on. So,
we actually built on the gravel pit, with a fair bit of earth moving on top
of that and we’re able to only very slightly on the woods and the meadows,
so while we recognize we’re certainly part of urban sprawl, being outside of
the city here, it was one way we could minimize the impact of that.”
While the environment is not the major focus of the co-housing
movement, most of the 50 or so, co-housing developments across the
nation like the one
in Ann Arbor do take special pains to tread lightly on the
land.
Kathryn McCamant is one of the principal architects of the
firm, the
co-housing company. The company has designed several co-
housing
communities.
“The definition of co-housing has– includes no definition about
environmental philosophy, but what we find is that the people attracted to
co-housing tend to have relatively strong environmental views.”
And McCamant says as planning discussions take place, those
views are
expressed.
“And because of that, they are quite intention in terms of how
the development, the design, and the lifestyle can reduce their impact on
the land. And so, you actually find that the consideration of environmental
issues is quite consistent among co-housing communities across the country.”
(Loud traffic sounds)
And that green ethic is not limited to the countryside. Here in
the heart of
Chicago. The acme artists housing cooperative is in the design
phase. A
group of artists has already purchased three connected
buildings. Laura
Wethered is coordinating the development effort. In a
warehouse section of
the buildings, she sees a bit of garden in the middle of the
concrete.
“By taking the roof and the floor off the center of it and
creating a village green, all of the units open out into this central
courtyard and the community, so it’s kind of a main thoroughfare for
pedestrian traffic.”
Weathered also notes the acme artists are tapping into
grants and subsidies
to be energy efficient. Over the long term the site will be
environmentally
friendly too. It’s right next to the el, Chicago’s elevated
train, reducing
the need for cars. The community is also making other green
plans. Batya
Hernandez is on the recycling committee.
“And so, we have arleady definitely decided, yeah, we will
recycle. We also have a green committee. And so, we’re planning, besides the
courtyard space and the rooftop deck, a rooftop greenhouse. So, we pretty
much has concensus on that. I mean, it’s pretty much a no-brainer.”
Co-housing planners say the intentional communities also help
the
environment in other ways. Instead of driving the kids to
daycare… many
co-housing communities offer day care. Many offer office
services, so people
can work from home instead of commuting. And sometimes
it’s a simple as
getting an onion from the community garden or borrowing a
cup of sugar from
a neighbor instead of driving to the supermarket.
For people who like the isolation of suburbs, co-housing
communities might
not be attractive, but co-housing advocates say in the long-
term, their
lifestyle choice goes a long way to substantially reduce
impact to the
environment.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.