The Future of Neighbourhood-Making

Open lecture by architect Charles Durrett (The Cohousing Company). Cohousing and high-functioning neighborhoods can play a major role in building a viable society. We can use them as the building blocks to address many of the critical issues of our time — from global warming to racism and othering. 

'Our office has a poster, “If it doesn't work socially, why bother?” It has guided all of our work, whether it be housing, hospitals, schools, and more. In the U.S., we struggle with a society that in many ways leans towards a more dysfunctional society – and we 100% commit ourselves to the opposite direction.

We struggle with classism, affordable housing, and housing for the homeless that are real neighborhoods that makes living more economical, safe, and convivial.

We struggle with racism, and focus on making everyone feel included, and welcome in every setting.

We very much approach our work from an Anthropological point of view, as fully laid out in the new book Cohousing Communities: Designing for High-Functioning Neighborhoods, formally Community-Enhanced Design.'

About Charles Durrett
Charles Durrett is an architect, author, and advocate of affordable, socially responsible, and sustainable design. Durrett and his team at The Cohousing Company have designed more than 50 cohousing communities in the United States and around the world, including Muir Commons in Davis, California, the first cohousing community in North America. The Cohousing Company has had over 60 interns worldwide, 7 of which were Danish.