Beyond the shadows of cohousing: Cultivating idealism, identity, borders and trust

One of the fundamental dynamics of human existence is the tension between our need for individuality and our need for community, our need to be apart from others while at the same time having a need to be a part of others. How we navigate the borders between ourselves and others, how rigidly or how flexibly we hold these borders, and where we draw the line between us and them has great significance.;Community, a paradoxical and sometimes vague term, is often used to lament what is felt to be missing in our fragmented, postmodern, suburban neighborhoods of America. Cohousing, a type of intentional community that originated in Denmark in the early 1970s, is designed to create and sustain a sense of community. Cohousing's five basic architectural and organizational tenets, which run counter to the traditional American housing values of privacy and ownership, seek to incorporate choice and change, the basic defining values of intentional communities.;This study explores the question "what is the cultural and psychological effect of a cohousing community on its surrounding neighborhood?" The research is derived from interviews with members of a cohousing community located in a typical American suburb, along with neighbors of the community, and members of two other intentional communities that have significantly different organizational structures.;The study revealed shadow aspects of idealism, identity, borders, and trust throughout the cohousing community and the surrounding neighborhood. Elements inherent in the design of cohousing deeply divide members of the cohousing community from each other, as well as from their surrounding neighbors.;Although cohousing holds the possibility of providing an experience of community, it is critical to recognize that the essence of community is attitude, not address. To create generative communities there must be involvement, reciprocity, and engagement with the world beyond the borders of the community. Individuals who currently live in cohousing communities and professionals who help create them must address directly the shadow aspects that hinder the full potential of cohousing. Depth psychological personal work is an integral element to develop the individuated capacity for inner connection that is necessary to create community.