'Cohousing' Bolsters New Urban Neighborhoods

Cohousing communities — developments whose residents share dining facilities, gardens, recreation space, and other amenities — have cropped up in 80 locations in the US since 1991, when the first such project, containing 26 townhouses and community gathering places, was built on a 2.9-acre plot in Davis, California. Now, as the cohousing movement learns how to organize projects faster, cohousing is becoming an increasingly promising option for new urban developments.