Origins of Cohousing
How Did It Start?

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Danish architect Jan Gudmand-Hoyer is the acknowledged founder of the cohousing movement. Unfortunately, his first attempt (1964) to build a supportive community with friends in Copenhagen failed. 

Another key figure in the early development of Danish co-housing was author Bodil Graae. In 1967 Graae published an article entitled  Children Should Have One Hundred Parents. Graae's article led to a group of fifty families forming--all interested in creating a housing collective that was also for children. 

In 1968 Jan Gudmand-Hoyer published a paper entitled The Missing Link between Utopia and the Dated One-Family House. Gudmand-Hoyer, drew inspiration from his architectural studies at Harvard and interaction with experimental U.S. communities of the era. 

He continued writing publicly about the concept, and defined it as collaborative housing that embraced a strong sense of community and might serve as an antidote to the  unfriendly and non-community-oriented subdivisions that still characterize home building

The two groups combined forces in 1968. 

They acquired two sites, one in Jonstrup, a small village outside Copenhagen, and another near Hillerod, a quaint town which lies about 30 km northwest of Copenhagen. 

By the end of 1973, both communities, Saettedammen and Skraplanet, completed construction.

The concept was introduced to North America as cohousing by two American architects, Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett. They visited several cohousing communities and wrote a book about it, Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves.

Mostly a "picture book" with very little real information, it still spurred interest in the concept. The architects commercialized the concept as it grew to its present state in the United States.

Athough New Urbanism and Smart Codes have helped the concept, it is still not always a simple road to success. Cohousing groups sometimes face hostile city councils, city managers, planning and zoning departments and even less-than-enthusiastic potential neighbors along the way.

Is it worth it? 

Most residents of completed cohousing units say, "YES!!"

Questions? Please come to our next introductory meeting. In the meantime, call metro 972 251-1532 or 817 545-0140 for answers. 

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Scheduled Meetings are normally held in Rockwall and Hunt Counties, occasionally in Dallas County

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