This is a post from the
Etsy series
No Place Like Here. Essentially a group of friends got together in what I'm guessing was the 70s (Check out that hair! And those glasses!) and bought a piece of property above Monterey Bay and over time built individual homes and a shared great house - and a small, supportive community.
I think community is lacking for a lot of us - humans developed living in closely interwoven tribes and then had shared activities like quilting and barn raising and cattle wrassling etc. But now so many of us now live fairly isolated lives where we cook for ourselves or a few others and spend time alone in cars on commutes. Seems somewhat unhealthy and unnatural, for us and the world!
I'm not sure this much shared space would suit me -the showers are a particular concern- but I've always loved neighborhoods that incorporate some of the tenets of co-housing, such as a reservable guest house, catering kitchen, shared garden space, etc.
What do you think about shared spaces and community buildings? Do you livesomewhere with shared spaces? How small do you think it needs to be to generate reall community ties (ie. 150 apartments with a shared clubhouse may not be community-creating without shared values and goals). Think back to when you were a kid and imagining the kind of house or neighborhood you wished you lived in - how has that changed? What would you choose now, if anything were possible?
