Some Americans have started questioning the traditional dream to land a secure job, get married, have 2.5 kids and buy a house. We’ve moved away from the community-driven villages of yesteryears in the pursuit of independence and success.

What if we could return to a community where neighbors looked out for one another? Where the domestic and emotional weight of living life was shared?

Cohousing communities seek to remedy these problems by reinventing the way we think about housing.

First, this housing trend looks to neighborhood design to create shared spaces that fosters an authentic sense of community. Cohousing architects utilize shared pathways to shared sites to encourage interaction (Williams, 2005). Something as simple as opting to place car parking on the edges of the community forces neighbors to walk by one another each day (Williams, 2005).

Countries, states and communities that have committed to this model have started seeing positive results. In fact, research shows these natural social interactions “build trust between residents” and creates a stronger sense of connectedness (Williams, 2005). This exchange strengthens social capital within the community, which leads to lower crime rates, improved health and better relationship to local government (Williams, 2005).

Second, this neighborhood design recognizes the benefits of sharing and depending on others, while maintaining the importance of ownership and independence. One type of cohousing units is called a pocket neighborhood (Henderson, 2011). These communities are often built of independent, private dwellings for the family unit and contain shared spaces such as a community house, where neighbor can gather and foster relationships.

Cohousing neighborhoods are poised to start picking up steam in Springfield.

Earlier this year, Springfield City Council approved a proposal to develop a “pocket neighborhood” on the east side of town with construction to begin in spring (Abreu, 2017). In addition, just last week, Springfield received its first tiny home to be a part of the Eden Village, a planned neighborhood created by the Gathering Tree for chronically homeless people (Gurney, 2017).

Journalist Courtney Martin discussed this shift in the American Dream in her 2016 TedTalk, sharing her experiences in a cohousing community.

“The ‘new better off,’ as I've come to call it, is less about investing in the perfect family and more about investing in the imperfect village, whether that's relatives living under one roof, a cohousing community like mine, or just a bunch of neighbors who pledge to really know and look out for one another.”

While cohousing may not be the right choice for everyone, we all have the ability to stop, slow down and get to know our neighbors. If each person strives for intentional hospitality, the return to the “imperfect village” may be in our reach.

Spare Key just finished reading Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove's The Wisdom of Stability which makes a case for staying in place and investing in a neighborhood. This is the second of two posts inspired by that book.

In our mobile culture, we are constantly under pressure to move from city to city in order to advance our careers, to further our educations, or simply to trade up for nicer houses in nicer neighborhoods. We are taught that fulfillment is always just over the next hill.

"...We can see the paradox: the same restlessness that sends us searching for community also keeps us from settling down wherever we are."—Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Wisdom of Stability, p 20

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove does a great job of pointing out how despite our desire for true community, all of our social habits push us to seek what we're looking for somewhere else. There always seems to be bigger and better opportunities elsewhere.

Typically, there actually are better opportunities elsewhere. For this reason, we get very antsy when it comes to committing to anybody or anything.

But stable community cannot exist without commitment.

So if (and this is a big if!) community really is what we're looking for, stability of place is a necessity. There is no way around it. As Jonathan writes, "Stability demands that we do the long, hard work of life with other people in the place where we are."

I say "that's a big if" because I've moved at least once every year for the past ten years. Given the choice, I would do it all again. I moved from place to place in order to advance my education, learn about community and challenge myself. Sometimes we must go through a season of mobility to reach our goals at that time.

However, if a person chooses to move to a new city often, it is safe to say that person's immediate goal is not community. And that's okay. There are plenty of legitimate goals in life other than community. In fact, most people do not choose community and never do.

That's why intentional communities are radical. We like to call ourselves "ordinary radicals" (especially those of us in the New Monastic vein) because we make counter-cultural life choices.

Because we value friendship and conviviality, we decide to live together or near each other even though that decision might limit our other choices. Since we value collaboration, we choose to share things when we could just as easily go out and buy those things on our own. And because we value stability (and because our community members value us), we choose to stay in the place where we are.

This post was written by Jay Howard, Neighborhood Czar of Spare Key. If you missed the first of this series on The Wisdom of Stability, click here. 

Instead of the front porch, today I am writing from the hammock. Nutmeg is lazing on the grass. Amber has decorated the harvest table with flowers and place-mats and the benches with blankets. I am getting ready to fire up the firebowl and grill burgers for Spare Key's weekly potluck.

Behind me on the porch an audacious plant grows from a crack in the caulking. We noticed it weeks ago, and we left it there. It has grown 18 inches, a slender green stalk straight toward the sky. I have no idea how it got there, or what it is, or how its roots are finding what they need in the bowels of my front porch. But I like what it's doing.

Just as a seed had thrived in calking and concrete, an intentional community has taken root in our own front yards.

After much soul-searching and debating of options, Amber and I have decided to stay in Springfield for the long term--to "hunker down" as one of my friends recently put it. We made this decision not least because of the unprecedented spirit of community we enjoy here. Having finally made a decision to settle, I can't tell you how liberating it is to just. be. present.

We are excited to participate in and contribute to what is happening in Springfield, a place that I know to be full of cultural creatives, high functioning idealists, and crusaders of every stripe. A metaphorical cloud of paper lanterns exists above Springfield, and I look forward to adding my own tiny lantern to the others that already illuminate the landscape.

The next stage is to find a particular region, a particular neighborhood, a particular community, a particular house or houses. We will find this when we find it. But wherever it may be and whenever we may find it, I hope I let nothing distract me in the meantime from just. being. present.


My View From the Front Porch: May 2015, Jan 2015, Aug 2014
jayhoward@gmail.com