When I was at school my (girl)friends and I made a plan to all live together “when we were old and grey”.
As my mum approaches her eighth decade, the idea of her living in her own sustainable home with friendly helpful neighbours - as an alternative to living alone - is an appealing one. Turns out we were on to something!
Cohousing is a Scandinavian concept, born in the 1960s, where residents collaborate to design and manage their own communities.
Many are multi-generational, but some are tailored to the particular needs of a specific community. A wonderful example I’ve come across is New Ground Cohousing or OWCH (Older Women’s Cohousing) in Barking, London. It’s a community of over-50’s women, is completely pedestrianised, and has accessible, adaptable, and sustainable private dwellings, shared facilities, plus a community garden and growing space.
Living in a community like this could be life-enriching for someone like my mum - busy, friendly, and independent. Not only would it remove the financial and practical worries of maintaining a home alone, but more importantly it would allow her to stay self-dependent, young at heart, and active, dissipating the slight feeling of isolation and loneliness which can and does develop at a certain age. More broadly schemes like this can reduce pressure on health and care services.
I sincerely hope local authorities, policy-makers, planners, and developers are taking heed of success stories like these, and senior cohousing is something we will see more of in the future.
👀 https://lnkd.in/e2STYv_V
So excited to see this project!