A Study on Residents' Participation of Cohousing in USA

미국 코하우징의 주민참여 사례연구

Since the cohousing idea, originated in Northern Europe, was introduced in the U.S. by architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett in the early 1980s, there are recently the largest number of cohousing communities and rapidly expanded in the U.S. So, it is necessary to appreciate the cohousing communities developed in U.S. In this study, we investigated the physical characteristics of cohousing and the methods of its residents' participation by means of a case study on cohousing communities in U.S. and suggested the future direction of the cohousing community. Also, this work could be exploited when the cohousing is introduced to Korea. At first, the general status and characteristics of U.S cohousing was explored using diverse sources such as literature, paper and Web site. And then, the direct visit survey was used to obtain the more exact and specific data about physical aspects and residents' participation in each community. We found that cohousing communities were mostly located in the urban and Rural area, which was founded in the 1990s, and new communities continue to be created in the U.S. Typically, the number of households is from 20 to 30 in one community. The land is generally owned by the community itself and its size is within 10 acres. Communities usually serve optional group meals in the common house at least two or five times a week. Each member's income is separated and the community members should take care of their common properties. The leader of community does not exist and most communities don't have the organization of community members. All cohousing communities use consensus as the basis for group decision-making.