Cohousing is not the same as co-operatives, where apartment buildings are owned by the residents who have their own individual apartments or houses.

Cohousing is more like a cross between a commune and a co-op.  It’s like a traditional village that is owned by its residents, only not quite.

With co-housing a group of individuals get together, buy a property and either renovate or build to suit their purposes. Every individual or family has a private apartment or house in the village that they use as their space. They also share common spaces, facilities and amenities.

Shared spaces, facilities and amenities could be a children’s playground, guest rooms, a fully equipped office, workshops, gardens/farms, arts and crafts studios — basically whatever the group decides it wants to have (as long as it’s legal ).

Cohousing residents share responsibilities for planning, designing, managing, maintaining and participating in the day-to-day running of the development.  The residents become part of a sustainable, working community. A community where everyone knows everyone else and supports the other residents.

For location independent professionals and ageless nomads this type of lifestyle and housing design offers a number of benefits:

• you don’t have to worry about your home when you are away traveling;
• you could become part of a cohousing group that was formed around traveling so your non-traveling times would be spent surrounded by people who shared your passion and understood your lifestyle;
• as a location independent professional, a cohousing community built around creativity or small business development could provide unlimited support and energy to your lifestyle. There is an Art Cohousing Community in Rome, Italy (http://www.artcohousing.com/) that seems to be offering units for long– or short-term rentals to artists interested in developing their talents (the site is in Italian and the Google English translation is a bit rough);
• cohousing units can be ‘house swapped’ providing great opportunities for you to live in other communities; etc.

For Baby Boomers, the advantages to living in a cohousing community include:

• you don’t have to worry about your home when you are away traveling;
• house swapping your cohousing unit with someone from another cohousing community is a great way to travel and explore other countries without feeling lonely or isolated;
• being part of a community of individuals who share your interests or hobbies, without being limited to just retirement villages. Although there are some cohousing communities that are age-specific, most cohousing communities are inter-generational;
• you have community support as you age;
• you could reduce your living expenses. Shared items, like laundry facilities, vehicles, RVs, sporting and fitness equipment, hobby supplies, business equipment and expertise, etc., can help reduce costs; etc.

The cohousing model is a recent phenomenon, with the first cohousing community being built in Denmark in 1972. In North America the first cohousing community didn’t occur until 1988.  According to the Canadian Cohousing Network, there are currently only roughly 130 cohousing communities scattered throughout North America, with most Canadian cohousing communities located in British Columbia. However, another 120 are currently in various stages of development and the movement is predicted to gain in popularity over the next 10 or so years.

More information on cohousing can be obtained from:

1. The Canadian Cohousing Network, http://www.cohousing.ca
2. The Cohousing Association of the United States, http://www.cohousing.org
3. The UK Cohousing Network, http://www.cohousing.org.uk/
4. The Fellowship for Intentional Communities, http://www.ic.org/

TTFN

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UNESCO

In 2004, UNESCO launched the Creative Cities Network, and has been building on this initiative ever since. But why is this something that creative location independent professionals should be aware of?? Let me explain.

The purpose behind this international network of creative cities is not just to promote these cities as great cultural and creative places to visit (which they all are, of course), but to encourage these cities to create policies and programs aimed at developing Creative Entrepreneurship, Creative Industries, and Creative Tourism. That is quite a task.

To be part of this Creative Cities Network, cities must adhere to specific policies defined by UNESCO. One policy that I found quite impressive was the following:

A key ingredient is the creation of public/private partnerships that help unlock the entrepreneurial and creative potential of small enterprises, which play an important role in the new economy. To underpin their development, small creative businesses also need innovative talent, and therefore cities with strong contemporary art, fashion, craft, music and design schools are most likely to flourish. The Creative Cities Network

And here is where the relevance to creative location independent professionals kicks in. If you are looking for a city to visit and are interested in finding a city that might:

• provide you with creative inspiration,
• recharge your creativity (see my earlier post on this topic),
• provide you with some business contacts, partners and/or clients,

then you might want to have a look at the following list of cities. See if there is a city listed here that attracts your attention or is working to develop small creative businesses that are either based on your creative talents or are a great compliment to your talents.

At the moment, there are 19 cities that are part of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, with at least 20 more cities currently under consideration.

Cities that are already part of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, listed by the creative discipline they excel at, are:

UNESCO Cities of Craft and Folk Art
Aswan, Egypt
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Kanazawa, Japan

UNESCO Cities of Design
Berlin, Germany
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Montreal, Canada
Nagoya, Japan
Kobe, Japan
Shenzhen, China

UNESCO City of Film
Bradford, UK

UNESCO City of Gastronomy
Popayan, Colombia

UNESCO Cities of Literature
Edinburgh, UK
Melbourne, Australia
Iowa City, USA

UNESCO Cities of Music
Bologna, Italy
Seville, Spain
Glasgow, UK
Ghent, Belgium

UNESCO City of Media Arts
Lyon, France

The cities above that are in red, are linked to UNESCO pages that have information about the city and the efforts being made to fulfill the city’s obligations in this program.

TTFN

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Being a creative person is hard work, especially when your business depends on your being creative for extended periods of times and over an unending stream of projects. Add to this the effort required to keep up-to-date with constantly changing technologies, keep an eye on changing trends and client demands, as well as re-establishing yourself in new surroundings every few months.….and the potential for creativity blocks of various lengths and intensities seems almost inevitable.

What do you do when you find that the creative flow isn’t flowing as easily as it should?

One thing that you could do is to look at what creative individuals look for in a community or a city that they plan to settle into, and then plan to spend some time in those locations. Creative individuals, according to Richard Florida, look for communities or cities that offer “…abundant high-quality amenities and experiences, an openness to diversity of all kinds, and above all else the opportunity to validate their identities as creative people.” (The Rise of The Creative Class, page 218). For example, in Toronto there are a couple of ‘creative districts’, Queen Street West, Liberty Village, St. Lawrence Market area, The Beaches, and a few others, where creatives and creative entrepreneurs congregate.

This is great for creatives who want to settle into an area, but what does a creative that just wants to spend a few months in the area actually get out of being in a creative community instead of any other community?

For starters, you get to be surrounded by creative people and that energy that creative people seem to generate. Spending time in creative communities is like a professional attending a professional development conference. These professionals generally come away from professional development conferences feeling recharged and excited after having spent some time learning about what is new and upcoming in their field, discussing tends and opportunities with cohorts, commiserating with people who understand their field and speak their jargon.

Similar kinds of experiences can be gained when creative people spend time in creative communities. For example, if you are a graphic designer, look for an area in a city where a lot of graphic design firms are located. Spending a couple of hours a day in the local coffee shops, or pubs, or other gathering places, listening to conversations can give you the ‘water cooler conversations’ that you miss by working solo — information on new trends; gossip about clients and their demands — that kind of stuff. I always come away from spending time in the creative areas of Toronto feeling really creative — as if I had spent several days at a professional conference.

If you are an outgoing extrovert, then starting conversations with other creatives could result in potential business partners, potential clients, and a potentially expanded tribe. At the very least this contact with other creatives should re-validate your identity as a creative person.

How do you cope with keeping up with changing technologies, changing trends, and changing client needs while traveling — and maintain both your creativity and your sanity??

TTFN

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