Over 450 people flocked to Durham, North Carolina for the 2015 cohousing conference. The first time in three years this international group has convened, there were many new faces amongst the familiar old friends. Participants came from as far as Australia, China, France and South Korea as well as many of the US states.
The conference theme was "The Next Generation", and this was very fitting given the keen interest in urban Cohousing projects. Historically the US communities have been largely suburban and rural, however a newly completed project in downtown Durham demonstrated that urban cohousing could be beautiful, sustainable and successful.
There were bus tours of original communities, sessions talking about group process and getting the work done, as well as presentations about developing traditions in community and food programs.
Schemata's own Grace Kim lead an "intensive" workshop on common house design, and co-presented with Sheila Hoffman of Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing on their process for developing an affordable urban cohousing project.