Axiom #1: Sharing space with others
Posted by on March 30th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Making better use of living space by having more people living in it is the first of my 12 Axioms to reduce the footprint of our dwellings and live more lightly on the earth.
Double up for ecological and social sustainability
Having more people in a household is much more economical and energy-efficient than having fewer people. Unfortunately, our society is going the other way. Higher divorce rates and trends towards smaller families over the past few decades have led to a steady decrease in the size of the average household in North America, and to a per-capita increase in energy, water and materials used.
A basic tenet of sustainability is to share what you have with others. Examples of this are co-housing, co-ops, intentional communities or eco-villages – or simply sharing your household with roommates, renters or your extended family. Many of the objections to shared living can be overcome with thoughtful design choices and careful layouts that allow for privacy and personal space. Becoming part of a larger group can provide more options for living, and clustered developments or increased densities provide opportunities to create more parks and green spaces. Sharing with others is an excellent way to decrease your ecological footprint.
The goal: Living arrangements where more individuals share a home or group living space and realize the efficiencies of sharing spaces, energy, appliances, tools, workload and childcare.
On Apr 20, 2012 at 10:05 pm, uakkowyASCDVU said:
Designers facilitating csoneroativns between local non-profits to rethink the services they can provide as a collective is an interesting idea to consider. The more diverse the group of non-profits, the interesting the outcomes