At a time of acute crisis in housing in New Zealand, not to mention sustainability, and a society struggling to realize real-world social connnection and support – very few kiwis know anything of a residential model that addreses all of these issues: Cohousing
And so cohousing.org.nz has come into being. Following the example of US-based cohousing.org, we're going to be profiling communities and services to assist community building, co-design and sustainable construction. That most cohousing communities in Aotearoa are still in various stages development, is even more reason for this site to exist: We hope to help households find communities, and help communities find appropriate residents, and core team members with tangible skills to bring to their projects.
More than this, cohousing NZ will provide tools for communities to connect both with each other to solve common issues: zoning, finance, development, eco-friendly contractors, energy solutions etc - and develop online tools to help communities manage their own growth and life together. Never to diminish the face-to-face, 'village effect' communication that cohousing brings, but to complement it.
Cohousing NZ launches on the same day as Auckland Conversations holds a salon event for community craving urbanites – without a single speaker on cohousing. If nothing else this has spurred Auckland cohousers to out themselves and shamelessly court some publicity.
With so many communities still in development or even less 'formed', it may seem premature to launch a cohousing network. Frankly my dears, we just don't give a damn.
Our cities, our disconnected society, and our planet, cannot wait for a better way to live. If having kiwi cohousing grow-up in public is the price of that progress, so be it.