Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett coined the term “CoHousing” to describe community housing they researched in Denmark and documented in their book, COHOUSING: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves. Core concepts of CoHousing include participatory decision-making (including the design process), intentional neighborhood design, extensive common facilities, auto-free interiors, and complete residential management. McCamant’s lecture in Santa Fe in 1989 was the inspiration to form the group that eventually started The Commons. We choose to live here because we want a close relationship with our neighbors. We have a conscious commitment to work, play, share resources, eat, learn, build trust and make decisions together in ways that respect our individual differences and build our strengths as a community.