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Essays and Articles on Building Community

"Why Am I Doing This?" An essay on how the idea of "Building Community" developed and why I think it is important to take another look at our already built residential buildings and develop ideas for turning them into communities.

Book Reviews

New Building Materials

New materials are not always as "new" or as "green" as they seem to be, and others are far more expensive than their benefits warrant. In the long run, some just don't make sense. I'll be researching green materials and providing as much information as I can find about which ones may work for you in renovations and construction.

• How can a wonderfully (or badly) designed 75-year-old bulding be made sustainable and energy efficient?
• Our condo is replacing our windows and we want to know if triple pane sashes are worth the cost?
• Can we really save money by using straw bale construction?

These are the kinds of questions we will be exploring.

Facilities Management

Four out of five new residential units will be built in homeowner associations of one kind or another. Many of these will be in communities too small to hire professional management and many others will be in communities run by professionals with litte resident involvement. In both cases residents can benefit from understanding more about how to maintain their own facilities. Part of feeling at home is having the confidence that the "home" is under control. You have a sense of permanence and trust. Making buildings efficient is part of making them affordable.

We will start by discussing a model maintenance calendar for the year.

Inclusive Cooperative Governance

What is a well-managed community? How do you involve residents without creating conflict and delays that jeopardize both facilities and relationships? How do we maintain and govern cooperatively without condo commandos, runaway residents, imperious boards, or neglectful, absentee management companie?

In order to manage ourselves in new ways, we need new structures that are both inclusive and effective. One of these is sociocracy and the next issue will begin discussing this dynamic Dutch organizational structure. The goal is inclusive governance that draws on the strengths of residents, not treat them as the enemy.

Community Development

• How can a street become a neighborhood? Can a condo become cohousing?
• Where do I find potential cohousers?
• How do we know if a contractor is ripping us off or not?
• How do we hire a developer or contractor?
• Can we do it all ourselves?
• It takes too long to involve everyone, what are we doing wrong?

We will be exploring community development from two directions:

• how to build or retrofit a building as a community and
• how to begin developing community in a traditional, fully occupied building.
  

Urban Planning and Residential Design

What is a community? Can you design and redesign traffic patterns, walking paths, school and business placements, and relationships between houses and cars to build community?

We will regularly be passing along information about new community design ideas and the latest developments in residential design to foster greater affordability and stronger communities.

Other Features

Building Community will become an essential reference for a wide range of cooperative residential communities.

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14 April 2006

Sharon Villines Homepage