How to adapt to the inevitable new situations that happen, such as a divorce or your own physical conditions when growing old, and adapt your residence to a new lifestyle?

Changes in family structure; following a marital break up, when grown up children leave the family home and start their own lives, when you retire or when age has advanced enough to face the idea of looking for a new kind of residence and the social structure we live in does not offer exiting alternatives are chances to promote these initiatives. We live and we will live many more years than before. The houses we use, urban, country, isolated or condominium properties are not quite designed for what is callled "the third age" or just for elderly people that still mean rigid and unattractive possibilities.

Cohousing is a concept originated in the early 60's in Denmark, among groups of people and families who were disatisfied with traditional types of houses and residential communities that did not adapt to their necessities. Autonomous comunities were then designed to adapt to their new needs with plenty of common spaces to share (allotment, garden, swimming pool, kitchen, infiermary, laundry, etc.) at an absolute participatory regime. Today many countries in northern Europe, Canada and the U.S. enjoy extensive experience in this type of communities.

In essence, it is a housing community where individuals or families share common criteria in their living style, such as families with children, a group of retired people living alone or simply thrown into the lonely and anonymous life imposed by our traditional residential facilities, where availabilty of sharing common spaces to socialize and feel useful to a community in which members can identify with. Individuals with DIY skills or experience in maintenance can deal with the daily maintenance of the community; the foodies or fans of barbecues can share their passions with other members, who may have another useful skill for the rest of them. This philosophy can be summed up as an environment where sharing knowledge and abilities benefit their immediate community, at the same time as like-minded people with whom to socialize.

In the same way that cohousing offers many opportunities for residents to interact with others, it values and respects individual's right to privacy. People living in cohousing makes it easier to avoid the feeling of loneliness that grips many people in our modern cities and neigborhood communities. The possibility of participating in the community and share knowledge and life experiences past or present contributes to increase self-esteem and emotional well-being. The residents of cohousing care and support those in need of affection, ill or healthcare.