My takeaway from the Schoonship visit was that it was super interesting to see a cohousing project that was so different to the one that we are working towards, and a lovely opportunity to get together at the same time. Although we didn’t learn as much as we have done when we’ve visited the other cohousings in Brussels, for me there were a few interesting things to note:
They were very good at reaching out to institutions, communes, municipalities, etc. in order to get funding for many of their innovative projects (e.g. waste management, energy usage). I think the lesson here is to explore this thoroughly as we move forward. It may be that the commune we eventually settle in is amenable to contributing to certain aspects of the project, and there may well be funding opportunities at the local, national or even EU level.
Their communal room was very small, and not big enough for all members of the community to be in at the same time, which I thought was a bit sad. However, the way that their tables were able to be folded into the wall to open up the space was awesome!
For the big picture, I was interested by the fact that they were still learning so much about themselves and their project after all these years, and constantly finding new ways to collaborate and innovate…
Here is a very extensive document prepared by Schoonship that was supposed to be in the Materials section of the Greenprint. It isn’t possible to download it there, so I asked Yvonne and she very kindly shared it with us.
It’s a comparative document that includes different parameters of the sustainability and life cycle of different materials (recyclability, durability, whether it is locally sourced…) Could be quite helpful!
It is quite small prints but it’s ok when zooming in…
(@reef-it@Lee could you please split this topic so that there is a specific thread for the takeaways? Might be a good idea to do it for the cohousing bike tour as well? And let us know how to do that maybe? Thanks!)
Agree. A year ago I dreamed of “Team External”, that would do exactly that, and exactly for the reasons you mention. But the manpower was not there, and we had to prioritize. Let’s keep an eye on the evolving situation, because, as you say, there might be interesting opportunities.
Thanks!)