Cohousing Communities: Designing for High-Functioning Neighborhoods

Explore a groundbreaking and holistic new approach to designing community-first neighborhoods

In Cohousing Communities: Designing for High-Functioning Neighborhoods, distinguished architect and affordable housing advocate Charles Durrett delivers a complete, start-to-finish guide for designing anything where the emphasis lies with the community. This book describes the consequential role that architecture and a healthy design process can play in the success of neighborhoods, churches, towns, and more. It’s an inspiring collection of ideas that prioritize high-functioning neighborhoods.

In the book, the author draws on the success of hundreds of community-first projects to show readers how to design a project that addresses both timeless and modern challenges--from aging to climate change and racism--in its architecture and urban design. He compiles facts and concepts that are essential to the design of a high-functioning community, where people can participate in a way that reflects their values, improves their social connections, and retain their autonomy and privacy.

Readers will also find:

• Ideas for town planning, street planning, and other town altering improvements
• Discussions of how developers can make better multifamily housing
• Explorations of how planners and politicians can make high-functioning neighborhoods a cornerstone of their community
• In-depth treatments of families who want to confirm that they’re choosing the right neighborhood

Perfect for university students and professors who strive to see new ways to create neighborhoods, Cohousing Communities: Designing for High-Functioning Neighborhoods will also appeal to universities planning new neighborhoods for retired alumni or new housing for students and faculty.

Praise for Charles Durrett and Cohousing Communities

＂...Get and read Cohousing Communities... Read it from the front cover to the back cover. It’s The Bible of Cohousing. And, like The Bible, it needs to be STUDIED not just read. Mark it up w/ your questions. Highlight, underline, write in the margins, fold the corners... This way you will gather your understanding how building cohousing gets ＂done,＂ create your pathway to ＂Getting It Built＂... and, most importantly get everyone on the same page for working together.＂

-- Ann Zabaldo, Executive Director, Mid Atlantic Cohousing

Charles Durrett is an architect, author, and advocate of affordable, socially responsible, and sustainable design. He has designed over 50 cohousing communities in North America and consulted on several around the world. He is Principal Architect at The Cohousing Company based in Nevada City, California.