At the beginning of a co-housing project, groups find themselves standing before a mountain of questions. After the "Group - Place - Idea" trio is resolved to everyone's satisfaction, however, this puzzling thicket of questions thins considerably. Some groups may wish to realize their project in a very specific place. It is well worth it to carefully examine these three different elements of co-housing projects, because the more concretely and specifically these individual aspects can be set in place, the easier it will be for prospective group members to choose whether or not they would like to take part in the project.
Group - place - idea
A community-based (housing) project typically begins taking form once two of these three basic “Group – Place – Idea” elements have been specifically defined. A particular place and a particular idea provide the typical jumping-off point for most co-housing projects. If the basic concept behind a project is convincing enough, a group will come together to make it a reality. The starting point for other community-based projects, such as cooperatives that spend time living or working together (such as in a social, cultural, political or religious environment), tends more to be a particular idea and a particular group seeking the right place to fit their project.
Co-housing projects
To a large extent, the concept of living together as a community already provides the idea behind a co-housing project – as well as being a great draw for a large number of people. But this common denominator of “living together” also leads to heightened expectations. The district, the way the property is situated, the property itself and the architecture are all, as a matter of course, important criteria during the beginning stages of a project. Of course, these criteria are also accompanied by the ideas commonly associated with this way of life: embracing a multi-generational community, living together with mentally and physically challenged people, having community spaces, having buildings that are constructed to be ecologically friendly and energy efficient. These are the crucial elements that have to be set in place in order to build a group. Once the project as a whole starts to take shape and become a reality, the group itself becomes the deciding factor in the process of choosing the individuals who will be participating in the co-housing project.
Cooperatives that spend time living or working together
Some group members are even willing to move to a different Bundesland for the sake of breathing life into a particular concept of living and working together as a community. If it is equally important for the project to be realized within a beautiful space, the first task is to work on the idea and the basic concept. The interdependencies and concepts involved in a project are very complex and often involve examining the question as to how groups can make a living doing what they decide to do together. The question of whether what they pursue together will be successful has less to do with the actual space(s) involved than it does with the question as to what a group will be doing in relation to its surroundings.
Many project groups cannot make it off the ground at the beginning because they do not settle on particulars, hindering the process by preventing the project from being shaping any further and bringing it to the point of stagnation. The desire to do right by everyone is often found lurking behind this problem. We will thus start with a few thoughts on groups.
Group
Every individual is constantly being asked to make decisions. These decisions often shut the door on other possibilities, e.g., “If I take part in this co-housing project, I will not be able to participate in the other one.” Likewise, a project group is also responsible for approaching their project with a certain amount of speed and structure since, if they do not, every group member may have to make the most responsible choice available to them and pull out of the project. Everything that makes the project more concrete and strengthens commitment heightens everyone's ability to predict the chances that the project will become a reality, thus distinguishing it from a mere flight of fancy. It has proven successful for groups to found a Planungsgesellschaft/-gemeinschaft (society/cooperative) for the sake of planning after doing a “Zukunftswerkstatt” workshop together, a workshop in which every member expresses a somewhat binding interest in the project by investing a certain amount in it. This investment is then used to involve more experts in helping the project take shape. Even while people pull out of the project because of its increasingly concrete nature, it will become progressively clear to the remaining people within the group what goal is pushing them forward.
Place
As a general rule, most people have a clear preference as to where they would like to live. This is partially shaped by professional obligations and partially by personal needs, such as a desire for the liveliness and amenities of urban life or a gravitation toward the peaceful, idyllic qualities of more suburban or countryside locales and everything they have to offer in terms of space and nature. These factors lend a very specific character to groups and their pursuits and are extremely important for the direction and conceptualization of a co-housing project, as it is impossible to unite opposing tendencies within one project. In big cities, it is often even important to settle on a district early on in order to be able to present a clear picture of the planned project to potential project members.
Idea
There are two basic questions involved in defining the idea behind a project: "What do we want to do together?" and "Who should be a part of it?" In order to answer these questions, it helps to make a weighted list of the basic elements underlying the project, e.g., “community-oriented and ecological,” and come to an agreement about them. The second step is to discuss these in concrete terms: “Exactly what do these mean and entail? Where is our boundary between ‘too much community’ or ‘too ecological’?” Defining the ideas and the program behind a project can be a long process, and this long process serves not only to define the basic concept of the project but also to facilitate group bonding and build a trust-filled culture of healthy discussion. This is the reason why an open, transparent discussion process is so vitally necessary. The moderated conversation or “Zukunftswerkstatt” workshop is an important basic building block within this process.
The concept behind the “Zukunftswerkstatt”
The “Zukunftswerkstatt," created primarily by futurist researcher Robert Jungk, is a method of developing ideas in groups and working out possible ways of putting them into practice. The entire process of the “Zukunftswerkstatt” aims to help participants become conscious of their ideas, problems, wishes and basic concepts and formulate them in words.
This important coming-to-consciousness and communication process takes place over the course of the following three consecutive phases:
- Phase of criticism
An inventory of problems and shortcomings is taken during the “phase of criticism.”
- Utopian phase
The imaginative, idea-filled “Utopian phase” serves as an aid in imagining, dreaming, brainstorming and coming up with suggestions as to how things could be different. These suggestions are weighted according to their respective importance at the end of this phase.
- Phase of realization
The “phase of realization” is ultimately about finding possible ways of best realizing these ideas. If feasible, participants make concrete agreements during this phase on the following course of action (“idea sponsoring”).
Goal and result
The concrete results of the “Zukunftswerkstatt” are evident on two different levels. On the academic level, topics and ways of putting things into practice that are important or even crucial for the majority of the group are worked out. These can be pursued and implemented promptly after the “Zukunftswerkstatt.” On the relational level, all members of the group have the chance to articulate their ideas and wishes, to discover others they can work with during its implementation and, simultaneously, to feel how important their personal needs are to the group. The workshop can be helpful for groups in the formative stages by bringing individual participants to the realization that this group or concrete co-housing project will not fulfill their envisaged needs. The process of coming to this deeper understanding and clarifying things helps participants and groups even when the number of people interested drops after the “Zukunftswerkstatt,” as it convinces remaining members all the more that it is the right co-housing project for them.
Duration and setting
It does not require much effort to organize a “Zukunftswerkstatt.” In terms of time, it is recommended to set aside a weekend for it. What is most important of all is to prepare well for it. This includes factors all the way from choosing an appropriate venue to getting the materials for the group to work with including – not least in importance – posters and felt pens, as one characteristic of this methodology is that every participant legibly writes out keywords representing their particular contribution to the discussion over the course of the three phases. An experienced group moderator with experience in dealing with creativity techniques is also recommended.
Further links
www.jungk-bibliothek.at
www.zwnetz.de
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zukunftswerkstatt