<< Cohousing is the longest and most expensive personal growth workshop you will ever take. >>

Zev Paiss, cohousing resident, advocate and consultant 

<< Co-housing: it’s the longest-running, most expensive personal growth workshop you will ever sign up for,

but you get a house thrown in as a bonus.

And, I would add, a wonderful community of people. >>

Louise Clarke, resident of Wolf Willow Cohousing, US

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<< We should not underestimate how much we have learned to deal with different opinions. Many of us have made U-turns. While living in a ‘me’ centered society most of us learned how relative our own opinions are.

I think these things have major effects on our identities. You learn to distinguish in a very short time what is important to you and what is not. >>

Sarah Berger & Lucy Morgan-Jones, bewoners cohousing ‘the Community Project’, UK  (in: ‘Thinking about CoHousing’, door Martin Field, 2005)

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<< Er zijn genoeg redenen om [cohousing] wel te doen. Omdat je ook huishoudelijke taken kan verdelen, heb je meer tijd om dingen te doen waar je gelukkig van wordt.

Samenwonen heeft een positief effect op je persoonlijke ontwikkeling. Je leeft op elkaars lip, leert omgaan met verschillen, maar vooral ook je eigen kleine kantjes en grenzen kennen.

Mijn kinderen hebben er bijvoorbeeld sociale vaardigheden geleerd die ze in het leven zeker nog zullen nodig hebben.

Respect voor elkaar. Compromissen kunnen sluiten is de kunst. >>

Steven Vromman, Low Impact Man, Groen Gent (in: interview in De Standaard door Tess Vonck, 2012)

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<< Living collaboratively [is] a much saner way to live.

I’m not a real outgoing gregarious type of person. The community gives me a chance to know others, where before, at first brush, I would discard them. But the community by its very nature continually teaches me that if I hang around long enough to get know someone, there’s a lot here to be found … .

I’m a manager of a large organization and it’s taught me people skills. It really has empowered me. >>

Bewoner van Sunlight cohousing, US ((in: ‘Collaborative communities – cohousing, central living and other new forms of housing with shared facilities’, door Dorit Fromm, 1991)

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<< The local school often commented that children from our community were good at sharing and solving problems.

They learned direct democracy at Hoejtofte as they were part of the decision-making, and had many adult role models. Responsibilities were shared.

The adults often supported each other in various ways; for example, when one man had a mental breakdown, three of us stayed with him for several nights and days (and stayed home from their jobs) thus avoiding his hospitalization. […]

Our children learned many lessons by just being part of the group and having so many ‘parents’. >>

Hildur  Jackson, bewoonster van Hoejtofte Cohousing, DK (in: ‘Children and cohousing, The Birth of an International Social Movement’)

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<< [La] question de l’acquisition de compétences nous semble primordiale.  Dans nombre de témoignages, l’autopromotion est “plus que du logement”. L’apprentissage des décisions collectives est une expérience de vie qui participe au développement personnel des individus, parents, enfants et personnes âgées confondues. Mais la phase de construction suppose aussi une véritable  capacitation  des autopromoteurs (empowerment) qui sont aux prises avec des problématiques immobilières complexes et interviennent sur toute la chaîne de production du logement. >>

Maury Julien, Fondateur de la société COAB, réseau social de l’habitat participatif (in : ‘L’insertion de l’autopromotion collective dans les politiques de l’habitat’,  Mémoire de Master 2, Maîtrise d’Ouvrage et Programmation Urbaine, Université Paris Est, 2010)

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<< As a minister and a community organizer, my life work is about enabling people to live in their fullest potential as human beings. My experience has shown me that a tremendous amount of personal and spiritual growth can happen in communities where values are shared, and people are encouraged to share and explore their gifts.

Our cohousing community has a different type of intentionality around values and gift-sharing than I find in my congregation and faith-based organizing community. As such it has offered me another understanding of community-building that complements and informs my other work in the world.

Most of our community-building at Swan’s [cohousing] happens around a dining room table. There is no agenda when you show up for dinner; the conversation can take you anywhere. >>

Lydia Ferrante-Roseberry, minister at Eden United Church, president of Congregations organizing for renewal, living in Swan’s Lake Cohousing (in: ‘Living with Integrity: My Experience in Cohousing’, The Cohousing Journal, The Cohousing Association, US, 2003

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<< I’ve been a personal growth junkie for a number of years and one of the things that appealed to me was a place where I could grow personally as a human being and it still is.

That is one of the things I love about being here, even though sometimes it’s in my face and sometimes it’s uncomfortable, but it’s a place where I can grow personally. >>

Joanne, living in Greenbelt Community, US (in: “The ‘Lacking’ Narrative: Why Intentional Community Members Choose To Live A More Demanding Lifestyle”, by Jordan A. Todd, Carleton University, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Ottawa, article for Fellowship for Intentional Community, 2011)

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<< Het morele doel van Ubuntu  is volledigheid van menselijkheid: een moreel leven wordt beschouwd als een proces van persoonlijke groei. […]

Net zoals deelname aan een gemeenschap met anderen essentieel is voor persoonlijke groei, is deelname aan een gemeenschap met anderen ook het motief én de vervolmaking van het proces. Alles wat persoonlijke groei en deelname aan de gemeenschap stimuleert is goed, alles wat het tegenhoudt is slecht. >>

Augustine Shutte, Zuid-Afrikaanse filosoof (in: ‘Deze Afrikaanse filosofie inspireert tot een nieuwe soort verbondenheid’, artikel door Lynn Berger voor De Correspondent, 2017)

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<< … beyond the daily act of learning new skills, projects need to become perpetual places of learning. This is in terms of ongoing educational work but also in terms of training in a range of skills from construction to cooking and facilitation.

Learning is crucial because it allows projects to act as wider inspirational resources for other groups. So much learning becomes embedded in individuals in projects that quite a lot of effort is needed to break this out and lay it down so that others may access it. >>

Paul Chatterton, writer, researcher, campaigner, school of Geography, University of Leeds, co-founder cohousing LILAC (in: ‘Low Impact Living: A Field Guide to Ecological, Affordable Community Building’, 2015, UK)

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<< A person can do more than they would ordinarily on their own. Living in cohousing broadens people by getting them to do things they might not otherwise have tried.

You see someone cross-country skiing out in the yard, and think “Hey, if he can do that, then I probably can, too.” In addition, the owner of the skis probably wouldn’t mind lending them to you – along with a few words of advice – so that you can give it a try.

Another example is playing musical instruments. People typically play music if they happen to have had some exposure to it in their youth. At Drejerbanken all of the children are exposed to the few adults who play music, and as a result almost all of them play some sort of an instrument. […]

In general, I feel that living in cohousing fosters independence and maturity – you learn to cooperate on a small scale, and to accomplish more as an individual. >>

Niels Revsgaard, docent sociologie, bewoner van Cohousing Drejerbanken, DK (in: ‘Creating Cohousing, Building Sustainable Communities’, by Kathryn McCamant & Charles Durrett, 2011)

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<< Hoe meer ondersteunend mensen hun relaties vonden, des te hoger hun streven naar persoonlijke groei was […]. Dit is zelfs van toepassing in culturen waar mensen meer nadruk leggen op het collectief in plaats van het individu. […] Het opbouwen van positieve sociale relaties met anderen, dient je in een goede positie te zetten zodat je ondersteuning kunt ontvangen – wat belangrijk is voor persoonlijke groei >>

David S. Lee, psycholoog, onderzoeksleider, University of Michigan, US (‘I-Through-We: How Supportive Social Relationships Facilitate Personal Growth’, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin’ ; geciteerd in: Esquire Magazine, 2018)