Hello to My Cohousing Friends!

Some of you may know me through the research I did over the past two years on common house design and the social life of semi-private spaces. Many of you asked to be kept posted on any new research or news... and I finally have some!

'Inside Housing' a magazine of news, views and jobs for professionals interested in social housing, has just published this piece on cohousing. Do have a look.
'Inside Housing' on cohousing

Summary
This document sets out the case for new Planning Policies at local and national levels, allowing planning permission on an exception basis for eco-clusters: sustainable, low-impact, mixed-use developments, detailed below. This policy document has been adopted by the UK Cohousing Network, and was prepared for them by Alan Heeks and Maria Brenton.

This page contains a collection of articles targeted at developers wanting to know more about the cohousing model. Where an article has a named author (just below its title), it expresses the view of that author and is not necessarily the view of the UK Cohousing Network.

• Alan Heeks: Demand for cohousing

Introduction

Even the best recent eco-developments reduce mainly direct energy use in the home, which is only 17% of the total energy footprint of the average household. 39% of energy use is travel and food production which need ‘lifestyle sustainability' changes, not just technology. Cohousing can provide this, and is being recognised as such by some progressive local authorities and national bodies.