“Capitalism will not bend over backwards to make sure that you have a life of human connection and meaning. It won’t. […] So I’ve learned that we simply have to create the environments in which we want to live. We must build our own villages.” Have a look at Trish Becker-Hafnor’s Ted talk and find …
Read more Cohousing: The future of community and human connection
Our Urban Village is proud and excited to be a future part of the pioneering research project Happy Neighbours: Promoting affordability and social wellbeing through multi-unit housing design and programming actions. Happy City will assess the impact of the design on residents’ sociability, sense of belonging, social trust, perceived health and level of engagement before …
From the beginning, we wanted a multigenerational cohousing community, even though our founding members were in their 50s and 60s. They didn’t have anything against folks their age, but they thought living with diverse ages might be more enriching and a whole lot of fun. Some communities cater to one demographic. One exclusively family-oriented group …
Read more 4 Great reasons to live in a multigenerational community
For over four decades, over 90% of cohousing communities were in rural and suburban settings. But in the last ten years, more and more cohousing projects are being launched in cities, sometimes even in ultra-urban downtown cores. How did urban cohousing become part of the mix? In the beginning it was rural, all the way …
What do you do when the life you’ve made for yourself is thousands of miles from family and home? Building a new one might be a viable solution. Born and raised in Scotland, Alistair left the UK for a two year job in Kingston Ontario in 1992. His move mirrored his uncle who immigrated in …
I grew up in Red Deer Alberta, the oldest daughter in a large family. In those days, families ate their meals together. As kids, we even ate our lunch at home with our dad because we all ‘worked’ close enough to home. Our large family meals were about what you’d expect. Noisy. Newsy. Sometimes contentious. …
I became interested in cohousing long before I even knew cohousing existed. Even in my twenties, I sensed that there had to be a way to live in community with people who liked and supported each other. In my home country South Africa, nothing like cohousing existed so I had no name to put to …
Many young couples head for the suburbs when their first child comes along, seeking more space and a big backyard. But, many more, we think, would happily trade a long daily commute for city living if there was a viable option. Our cohousing community is offering an alternative for young families who want to stay in Vancouver. …
Read more Can cohousing help young families stay in the city? Maybe.
OUV is in our final sprint, breaking ground in just a few months. This article is a thank you note to the cohousing communities in British Columbia. Without you, we would not be here today. It’s likely that cohousers everywhere share their experiences with new communities. I have a feeling, though, that BC’s communities have …
Read more It takes a community. How BC’s cohousing communities support each other.
In the last few weeks, Tomo Spaces has received the Development Permit for the project from the City of Vancouver, putting us one step closer to our (literal) “ground-breaking moment”. The next step is to get a Building Permit! We are eagerly anticipating watching the demolition work start sometime this fall.