Place-based community development is critical for social health. But what if your group is only a community of interest, i.e., people are spread out all over and everyone is talking about how important cooperative community is but no one wants to relocate, or all they can see are the barriers to relocating. I'm part of a still-proto-movement that has maybe 1500 members, spread out over several countries, and we are all shaking our heads over the lack in caring and security as you age, cooperatively-owned businesses, common place of worship, etc. There are lots of us who talk the talk of cooperating with one another for our life's necessities and feel that it's just not possible to do anything beyond that.Could there be ways to use ABCD to mobilize relocation and some form of mass migration?

Hi Magdalena -

Have you checked out the ideas behind co-housing? I have a friend who recently moved into a co-housing situation for some of the very reasons you talk about above. It's a housing community where each family unit has their own apartment, plus they have shared space and make certain commitments to each other as neighbors. It might be worth checking out if you haven't looked at those concepts yet.

I should also mention that the people who live in her co-housing development also talk about the importance of being a part of the community around them - they are in the heart of our city and many of those folks are active community members in other ways as well.

Yes, thanks Deb, co-housing is one of the approaches we've taken a look at. Several of us have been on tours of local developments in the San Francisco Bay Area. My husband and I are members of the Fellowship for Intentional Communities--it's an association that includes communities based on people coming together intentionally to build community whether in a co-housing model or another system. Some of our members have such centers, but these are still scattered far and between and are not so much a part of the community around them yet. I have been inspired by the ABCD principle to be part of the community already around one's self (or group). For most of our members, though, living near one another remains an ideal. Thanks for writing!

That's really interesting, Magdalena - thanks for sharing these ideas with us. If you have any links that would help other folks learn more about this, please feel free to add them to this conversation.

Love to experience an eatery where we could enjoy local veggies/breads and other produces and where we could be known by name. I realize how expensive the cost of an eatery is and how difficult it is to compete and yet some of us are looking to be nourished in a friendly/community setting. Any feedback here?

Deb W mentioned that some people might like to know more about co-housing and other intentional communities. The grandparent of these associations is the Fellowship for Intentional Communities, and I think they are 500+ now, in the Americas and elsewhere. Their website is:http://www.ic.org/

Since I last wrote, a small group of our spread-out community has adopted Sococo, a virtual office online, that helps give us the physical awareness of each other in a way that no other webinar/conference software has yet done. As a failsafe for some of our meetings--when Sococo is undergoing weekly maintenance as all web-based programs must--we use StartMeeting online so that we can continue to take advantage of "breakout rooms" to meet even if we can't see each other there.

Thanks Magdalena - I'm interested in both the info you shared about Intentional Communities, as well as the technology you're using to help people be connect. Thanks for sharing...