Cohousing’s participatory ethos creates barriers to social diversity

Evidence

In cohousing communities, social connection, active participation and sustainable lifestyles are central to the model’s vision. The way these visions are realised in practice make cohousing very distinctive with implications on members’ sense of belonging and agency but also in terms of its social diversity. Practices such as regular meetings and committees, sharing responsibility for shared spaces and eating together support cohousing members to feel less lonely and have closer bonds with their neighbors (Hudson et al. 2021). At the same time, communities’ emphasis on progressive values and active participation made them exclusive to those who could not commit the required time, skill and confidence (Huber, 2017). — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning, 83

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the moral-panics framing: ideals of belonging (‘community’) carry hidden exclusionary costs. — connects to: Housing policy biases who can form intentional communities toward privileged groups — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning:…, 60; Championing community inadvertently strengthens exclusionary bonding over inclusive bridging ties — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1443; Cooperatives detached from movement ties undergo movement degeneration and democratic erosion — Adrian Josef Amon, Organizing the study of degeneration…, 51
• ADDENDUM: Complements ‘On Sacrifice’/‘Grafting’ themes on how well-intentioned collective arrangements quietly gate membership.
• corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning:…, 83

Related

• Housing policy biases who can form intentional communities toward privileged groups (similarity 0.82)
• Championing community inadvertently strengthens exclusionary bonding over inclusive bridging ties (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Championing community inadvertently strengthens exclusionary bonding over inclusive bridging ties #corroborates (0.90) — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1443
• Cooperatives detached from movement ties undergo movement degeneration and democratic erosion #complicates (0.75) — Adrian Josef Amon, Organizing the study of degeneration…, 51