Sustainable Cultural resistance

2004-10-02T20:11:13Z

Cultural Evolutionairies Unite!

Tribal Co-operatives
Its Good time we reorganize how we are interacting with the people around us.

posted in CO-OPERATE - 0 replies

Future Dwellings (housing for cooperative humans)

2004-02-10T15:46:16Z

Rough Text to go with SF Design Museum’s ecoLOGIC installation in the form of a website

headline:
Future Dwellings (housing for cooperative humans)
a 21st century redesign moves dwelling beyond 1950’s tracts to co-housing for co-operators

Problem:
Sprawl

Since 2000, I’ve been doing personal research and experimentation to discover how to solve the suburban sprawl problem we have in our culture. Sprawl, in the form of tract housing, was my first concern and as time progressed, I realized other forms of sprawl -- obesity, laziness, procrastination, competitiveness, lost hope, micro managing our family members, lustless couples, isolated people, working jobs we hate for absurd hours because we are terrified about lapsing on our ridiculously high mortgages, credit card, alimony, day care, and health insurance payments, dreams without manifesting, and all talk, no action -- essentially, hell or unfulfilling patterned ways of living -- are sprawl to the power of ten, or sprawl exponentially recreating its effects in waves throughout the entire life of the people who live in it or are powerless to people who live in sprawl.

My conclusion:
The American Dream of the 1950’s: single family home, unrealistically primed yard, keeping up with the ‘jone’s’ still the dominate way of living half a century later, is causing an epidemic of misery. No one deserves to be miserable. When we are miserable, we are stuck, not growing and when we aren’t growing, we don’t have sustained happiness, and we don’t contribute to the greater good. What do we do? We consume. So, excessive consumption, something we are all trying to do less via consuming things that will help us consume less?, and suburban sprawl are directly connected.

So what about those humans in 3rd world countries who are hungry? And waring nations? And cultures dominated by torturers? How do we really contribute to their sustainable culture? We sustain ourselves first.

How do we do that? Become the developers!

Solution:
become a highly organized and prolific sustainability focused developer

Communal vs Cooperative and Co-housing

communal: common space. cooperative: implies ownership and therefore responsibility. Future Dwellings are cooperative as opposed to communal. The reason is that the communes of the 1960’s (and those that are still trying to operate today) didn’t and aren’t working because people let all responsibility go by the waste side. They are operating in a partial reality that includes pleasure without sacrifice. The irony though is that, it’s not sustainable pleasure. Without taking responsibility, nothing or little grows. So they are sacrificing. They are sacrificing sustainability. Similarly, Future Dwellings are co-housing vs traditional urban Coops. Polar opposite to communes, traditional urban Coops are sacrifice focused, operated like corporations with strict cc and r’s, boardroom-like meeting structures, keeping up with ‘the jone’s’ attitudes (a different flavor and virtually similar to the suburb variety), competitive for control, and isolated in nature. They leave out the human enjoyment and cooperation element almost all together.

Working Plan:
Cooperative Co-housing communities for co-operators with:
(use images and drawings to illustrate.)

Large structures in natural settings that go up (not out) to maintain as much open space as possible.

They utilize solar, wind generated and other off grid power sources.

Small insulated individually owned live/work studios (we could call them rightlivelihood spaces):
The spaces are essentially studio apartments for individuals (even those in committed relationships*) that utilize high organization to maximize space usage, consider natural light, and provide all the person needs to create in an uninterrupted environment. *this doesn’t mean that couples can’t sleep together, if they want to, they get to choose which space to sleep in or sleep apart sometimes.
-Each has a kitchenette
with stove, microwave, small refrigerator, sink, toaster oven for ‘baking’, dish drying rack, clearly labeled landfill and recycle bins, minimal dishes, utensils, kitchen tools, pots and pans.
-Each has a small bathroom
with a shower, toilet, sink, storage, mirror, towel rack, shelf for stuff to be out and window
-Each has a mobile office set up by THEfreedomOFFICE
That includes computer, phone, internet access (provided by another co-operate business who partners with THEfreedomOFFICE)
-Each has a coat and bag rack by the door
-Each has a ‘to-go’ station for keys, glasses, outgoing mail, etc. by the door
-Each has an option for a built in privacy box that can be put anywhere (like by the bed for instance) for whatever the owner considers sacred and private.
-Each has it’s own storage unit connected to the unit (On the north side of the building so, the studios are on the south side of the building)
-Each has a day bed (a bed that doubles as a sitting or spread-stuff-out space)
-important details:
insulation (for temperature and sound monitoring)
high function — Scandinavian like organization
each resident has the option to style their space as far as furniture/built-in storage and contents are concerned. Or they can hire a future styled stylist to work with them to create the functional and aesthetic space they are looking for.
lighting — natural and fixture.
space flow (otherwise know as feng shui)

plus:

cooperative kitchen and dinning zones
for food demonstrations, like a certain culture’s or new era type food like raw food, and cooperative meals.

cooperative chill zones indoor and outdoor

cooperative gardens indoor and outdoor

Cooperative art creation zones indoor and outdoor

cooperative gallery with individual show spaces as well as group or collaborative large show spaces

nature zones (open space) considered sacred and cooperatively cared for as such (not much care, but respect, for original nature zones and more care for restored nature zones)

guest studios
for visiting family and friends available for rent.

Kid’s studios
more kid friendly than the other studios and are without kitchenettes

time share options
for people not wanting to be at the same place all the time.

Of course, timing is key here. Zoning in many areas is still low occupancy. So the first co-housing developments are likely to be urban with restored nature zones.

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Sustainable Cultural resistance

Future Dwellings (housing for cooperative humans)