Lola and Matt did a lot of research on commune living and discovered that there were many types of commune living including ecovillages, co-housing, housing cooperatives, and economic communalities.
Ecovillage: An ecovillage is a socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable community. Members of the ecovillage typically share similar social, economic, and spiritual values and beliefs. Many view the traditional forms of community as wasteful, damaging to the natural world, and lacking in social connections. Ecovillages – urban or rural – are settlements in which humans beings approach life in the following ways:
1.Support and maintain the natural world around them
2.Build strong social connections based on sharing and inclusiveness
3.Develop communities that are sustainable well into the future
4.Use renewable energy
5.Participate in co-housing or clustered housing
6.Provide for most of the needs of the ecovillage on site
Co-housing: Another form of commune living, co-housing, is collaborative housing that tries to minimize the alienation that the modern subdivision creates in which people do not know their neighbors, and there is little to no sense of community. In co-housing families and individuals have their own dwellings that include kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms, etc. However, there are extensive common areas that residents can share. A typical co-housing community consists of 20 – 30 single-family homes situated on a pedestrian street or clustered around a courtyard.
Housing Cooperative: This form of family-oriented, commune living involves a townhouse complex or apartment building that is both a business and community. The people who live there jointly own the property and the business. Membership in a housing cooperative involves shared responsibility, democratic leadership, non-profit housing, inclusive membership (open to people of different cultures, ages, and incomes). This form of community living promotes safety and security. It creates a village life within an urban or small town environment.
Economic Communality: Based on the rules of the capitalist market, these communities seek to free themselves from the grips of the global economy. They create an economic community of their own by promoting solidarity within the community and minimizing alienation and competition.
Other forms of commune living include the citywide and regional communal project, network communality, and wine commune.
Born and raised as city-dwellers, Lola and Matt, who were planning to start a family in the near future, decided to join a housing cooperative.