The following resources provide valuable information about cohousing and agrihood concepts, processes, and benefits.
Consensus 101: Basic Training in Consensus [video]
This one-hour video by Tim Hartnett is a very helpful orientation to the modified consensus decision-making process that BVF is using.
Best of Both Worlds Cohousing's Promise Trailer [video]
Short trailer to the full-length film introducing the concept of cohousing as expressed through first-hand observations of residents of four cohousing communities and observations by architect Charles Durrett, who brought the concept to the US from Denmark with Kathryn McCamant. [Purchase 27-min DVD of Best of Both Worlds Cohousing’s Promise]
Cohousing offers opportunities for communal living [video]
MLive shared a brief introduction to cohousing in Michigan, where there are five cohousing communities as of 2023.
Meet The Farm-Based Neighborhoods Changing The Face Of Master-Planned Communities [article]
Forbes: Thanks to a handful of developers and their more sustainable approach to planning, a new vision of the American neighborhood has emerged—and it’s called the “agrihood.”
Does Co-Housing Provide a Path to Happiness for Modern Parents? [article]
NYT: Today, the detached single-family house — the lonesome cowboy model of domestic architecture — dominates the American landscape so thoroughly that it feels as if it were inevitable. …But it didn’t have to turn out this way.
How Co-Housing Can Makes Us Happier [video]
A TED talk by cohousing architect Grace Kim. For architect Grace Kim, loneliness is a function of how socially connected we feel to the people around us -- and it's often the result of the homes we live in. She shares an age-old antidote to isolation: cohousing, a way of living where people choose to share space with their neighbors, get to know them, and look after them.
"Emerge, connect, get your hands in the soil and your feet on the pedals of a bike. You can start by becoming an intentional, committed, and creative neighbor." Read more about what Courtney E. Martin has learned from ten years of living in an intentional community in Oakland, California.
CoHousing Houston Interview of BVF Member Rebecca Selove [podcast audio]
Kelli Soika of the podcast CoHousing Houston visits with Rebecca Selove, a founding member of Burns Village & Farm. Rebecca speaks with Kelli about her introduction to cohousing as a concept, the last community she lived in called Blueberry Hill, and the roots and future of Burns Village and Farm.
Sherry Cummings
The author of Senior Cohousing: A New Way Forward for Active Older Adults shared her presentation about Aging-In-Place in Cohousing Communities. Download the Power Point presentation and listen to her audio recording from the September 20, 2021.
Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves
By Kathryn McCamant & Charles Durrett. (2011) New Society Publishers A movement that began in Europe has taken hold in North America because it provides some real answers for the increasing number of people who stop to look at where and how they live and at their impact on the environment. Cohousing is a way for a group of people to work together to develop places to live that offer both privacy and community with the values of an old-fashioned neighborhood-safety, independence, mutual concern. Many of these new ventures are up and running and many more are in the planning stages. Delivering more bang for the buck, this innovative approach to housing is challenging the formidable housing problems we face, and it is succeeding.
Happily Ever Aftering in Cohousing: A Handbook for Community Living
By Charles Durrett (2015) Habitat Press Publishing An excellent resource to share with others what high-functioning cohousing is about. Learn the tools and patterns that have proven successful for living in cohousing. For over four decades in the US and Europe, communities have achieved and maintained their goal of socially engaged and vibrant cohousing. This guide makes a great gift for friends and family as well as new members of cohousing communities and people who live in communities that aren’t functioning at their full potential.
Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities
By Kathryn McCamant & Charles Durrett. (2011) New Society Publishers The original “cohousing bible” written by the architects and partners Katie McCamant and Chuck Durrett, who studied the Denmark cohousing model and were the first to bring the concepts to America. With over 120 cohousing communities now in existence in North America, Katie McCamant and Chuck Durrett bring us a totally updated “must-have” book for cohousers, and anyone interested in creating more people-friendly neighborhoods.
Personal Growth: Maybe the Most Important Reason for Cohousing
This is a webchat delivered by Karen Gimnig, a Professional Cohousing Consultant and Communications Director at Cohousing USA
Growing Inclusivity in Cohousing
This is a blog written by Rosemary Linares, who identifies herself as living in a Midwest cohousing community. She describes a series of events that include conflict within her community, and the ways the community grappled with individuals' personal histories and deep feelings underlying the events, as well as the evolution of decision-making rules over a number of years.
Organizations That Support Cohousing
The Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC)
The Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC) supports the development of intentional communities as pathways towards a more sustainable and just world. Check out the map of 1000+ communities, bookstore, free resources and more at www.ic.org
Your Green Homestead
Your Green Homestead is an online educational and entertainment platform dedicated to inspiring sustainable design, one household at a time through a yearly contest of creative works and online community sharing of news, events, and forum discussions.
The Cohousing Association of the United States
The Cohousing Association of the United States is a national nonprofit supporting cohousing communities in changing our world. Spreading the word about cohousing shifts the culture toward a new American dream where every home is surrounded by caring, collaborative neighbors who use less of the earth’s resources while living an abundant life.