An Intentional Community is a type of collaborative housing that attempts to overcome the alienation of modern housing, where few people know their neighbours and there is little sense of community. This model, often called a pocket neighbourhood or cohousing, combines the autonomy of compact, self-contained, private dwellings with the benefits of shared, spacious community amenities. These would typically include a large dining room, community kitchen, recreation and hobby spaces, meeting rooms, guest rooms, workshops and gardens.
The neighbourhoods are designed with environmental sensitivity, sustainability and efficiency in mind. The physical design provides opportunities for spontaneous connection, while being carefully designed to maintain privacy. Typically this kind of development would have 30-40 homes, depending on the site. The style of home can be individual, semi-detached, townhomes or apartments.
In this model, the generous common spaces not only make it possible to live in a smaller home, they also function as the heart of the community, and offer many opportunities for social interaction. Although each home has it’s own private kitchen, shared meals in the common house are on of the regular events that support relationships among neighbours. The individual homes tend to be smaller than the norm because the shared space is so generous.
Site design is different from standard neighbourhoods. The homes are clustered on the site to free up green space and leave naturally forested areas, to allow for wildlife and recreation. Vehicle parking is kept to the perimeter, although pathways are wide enough to allow vehicle movement when necessary. Often a car share program is implemented by residents.
Because of the social structure and easy access to shared amenities, these homes will provide opportunities for reducing living costs that are not available in conventional neighbourhoods. Things like internet costs, snow ploughing service, tools and recreational equipment, specialty cooking equipment, hobbies etc., can be shared by the group. If they install solar panels they could supply their own electrical needs.