Self-management as the distinguishing factor

https://www.19tencottages.com/about-us

So that community has 30 units as is typical of a cohousing neighborhood and is very ‘eco’ and has porches and pedestrian pathways, etc. — sounding so like an ecovillage. If it had a central common building with dining the only difference would be that cohousing communities are self-managed.

But that’s a big difference.

Americans move in to developments all the time. They move in as an atomized household — looking for amenities rather than relationships with neighbors. They may like a development very much but they tend to move on within ten years due to employment or family circumstances.

Self-management and participatory democracy foster:
. interrelationships, interdependencies, cooperation, and sharing
. an identification with and a commitment to a place
. an identification with and a commitment to a stable group of familiar others
. a fuller extent of ecological consciousness and stewardship
. an eco-communitarian ethos in general