Creating Cohousing Building Sustainable Communities by Charles Durrett & Kathryn McCamant

We highly recommend that all of our members read the Creating Cohousing Building Sustainable Communities book. It highlights cohousing communities across North America and the steps they took to make their cohousing dream into a reality.

We have a copy available for borrowing and the Columbus Library has two copies.

Creating a Life Together Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities by Diane Leafe Christian

Creating a Life Together is the only resource available that provides step-by-step, practical "how-to" information on how to launch and sustain a successful ecovillage or intentional community. Through anecdotes, stories, and cautionary tales about real communities, and by profiling seven successful communities in depth, the book examines "the successful 10 percent" and why 90 percent fail; the role of community founders; getting a group off to a good start; vision and vision documents; decision-making and governance; agreements; legal options; finding, financing, and developing land; structuring a community economy; selecting new members; and communication, process, and dealing well with conflict. Sample vision documents, community agreements, and visioning exercises are included, along with abundant resources for learning more.

- New Society Publishers

Many Voices One Song Shared Power with Sociocracy by Ted J. Rau and Jerry Koch-Gonzalez

Many Voices One Song is a detailed manual for implementing sociocracy, an egalitarian form of governance also known as dynamic governance. Sociocracy means governance by those who associate together. This book is based on the Sociocratic Circle-Organization Method (SCM) developed in the Netherlands by electrical engineer Gerard Endenburg, based on earlier work of educator Kees Boeke. Many Voices One Song includes step-by-step descriptions for structuring organizations, making decisions, and generating feedback.