by Lisa Poley
Roanoke, VA — The future residents of the Jubilee Cohousing project, located in Floyd Virginia, are sponsoring a public presentation on the growing Cohousing trend that is taking root across the country and the region. This free event will take place 10-11:30 AM on August 29 at the Co-Lab on Grandin Road in Roanoke and is a great opportunity for area residents to learn more about this new approach to creating vibrant, safe and sustainable neighborhoods, often called the “new old-fashioned neighborhood of the future.”
Featured will be an image-rich presentation illustrating the unique aspects of Cohousing and potential benefits for residents. Representatives from both existing and building Cohousing neighborhoods in the region will be on hand to answer questions and share information about their projects and communities. Refreshments will be available.
About Cohousing in the United States
Cohousing communities are people-focused, collaborative neighborhoods that bring together the value of private homes with the benefits of more sustainable living. That means residents actively participate in the design and operation of their homes and neighborhoods, and share common facilities and good connections with neighbors. All in all, they stand as innovative and sustainable answers to today’s environmental and social problems
Sense of community is promoted by the layout of the neighborhood. Homes face each other across pedestrian walkways, cars are kept to the periphery, and inviting common spaces are plentiful. A spacious common house typically offers residents a variety of indoor amenities, including ample cooking and dining space, mail room, guest rooms, children’s’ play space, meeting rooms, laundry facilities, and often game, crafts, entertainment and exercise areas. The overarching design goal of cohousing developments is to support plenty of opportunities for interaction between neighbors while maintaining the privacy of one’s own home.
The cohousing idea originated in Denmark, and was promoted in the U.S. by architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett in the early 1980s. The Danish concept of “living community” has spread quickly. There are now hundreds of cohousing communities worldwide, expanding from Denmark into the U.S., Canada, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, and elsewhere.
About Cohousing in the Region
There are two existing Cohousing neighborhoods in south-western Virginia: Shadowlake Village Cohousing in Blacksburg and Elderspirit Cohousing in Abingdon. Both were completed more than a decade ago and continue to thrive. Jubilee Cohousing is completing their design process and hopes to begin building their neighborhood sometime in the next year. They plan to be a multigenerational cohousing community of 33 energy-efficient Passivhaus homes on 38 acres of land just outside of downtown Floyd. There is also a group forming in Roanoke that hopes to develop an energy efficient Senior Cohousing community in the Roanoke valley area with a particular focus on supporting one another in prayer and service.
There are several other existing and forming Cohousing communities throughout Virginia, including Richmond, Crozet, Harrisonburg, Louden County and Vienna.
