I'm currently wandering around with an amazing idea on how I think humanity society can be re-organized in such a fashion that we're all more happy, more social and less destructive for our planet. I find it so weird(and waste of space) to have a whole house just to yourself.

In the near future I want to attempt to purchase an old farm(or a perhaps just a piece of land) together with a few close friend and build a few houses that aren't too spacious but big enough to live in with a family. In the center of this all will be a large common / shared kitchen and several living rooms. It will be encouraged to spend time in the common areas with the other families.

Having a decent sized greenhouse on-site would allow us to grow some of our own food but not all. However, growing your own food has the pro of being almost free, provide opportunity to do an activity with the entire community. By sharing the costs of the operation by ratio on income a higher living standard can be achieved for most people. It also means people have more free time. A daycare for children can be organized within the group(means a big money saver) although it's probably advisable to have all children spend time with non-community members.

Having several living rooms gives opportunity to mingle and spend time with people in smaller groups. Since every family has their own home they can get privacy if they need to.

It's going back to our ancestral roots, living in a small village and sharing something big with more than just your direct relatives. We're pack animals and so should we live. I also believe the importance of money would be less in such a world because the world is more focused on family and not having. The idea has some inherent problems that could lead to big problems, but I think this idea isn't for everyone in our current society as it requires to much adaptation.

I believe you will appreciate tiny house talk and the tinyhouse blog

If you Google the phrase "Tiny House" you will find many many links to the Tiny House movement.

space isn't sparce in this world.
water and energy resources are more reasonable concerns.

What you are talking about, essentially, is a commune. And you're right, there must be some inherent problems, or else the commune movement of the 1960s would have flourished and grown rather than fizzling out. Small houses can be great if you are an organized person who doesn't collect stuff... But getting long-term living arrangements running smoothly with other humans can be quite vexing. Considering the divorce rate, sharing space with even one intimately tight friend for a long period is not something everyone can do.

It's a great concept, though, and I do hope to see more modern variations on the theme. Keep in mind that most ancient tribal societies were run by an authoritarian alpha male, which was a quite inequitable but apparently stable arrangement. Making such a thing work where all are equals sounds lovely but may fly in the face of our animal nature.

Yeah it's a great idea and I would envy any group of people who could do it successfully. I'm far too odd and messy though, I need my own space. As for the small house stuff that got mentioned, I think I could live in something like that myself and be quite happy. I have a 1 bedroom house, and I don't even use the bedroom. I'm not a big collector of stuff, really the only things in my house that I wouldn't want to lose are the essentials like cooker and fridge. Only possession I am attached to other than functional necessities is my computer.

I think the main obvious problem, as has been pointed out, is that communal living isn't as easy as it should be. People who share the same space for lengths of time usually end up stressing each other out in a multitude of ways. That is what I see anyway, it's not something I have done myself. I tried living with a friend at one stage and it lasted a week before he kicked me out for wandering out drunk and leaving the house door open when no one else was in

minxx and I have a whole house to ourselves..and tbh I love it. I like it more than anytime I lived with weird roomates or in little tiny apartments.

I have a giant yard with just tons of garden space. I have 3 bedrooms so I have a room for art, minxx to play music and growing plants in and another room for meditation and tripping..

I dont have annoying roommates I have to put up with..this is a big one for me. Communes sound cool but if I have to share a living space with a bunch of other people it just gets annoying. I am often not very social and like my own time. I have been in large groups of people like that before and while ideally it sounds awesome in reality people tend to get annoying after a while and you realize that you end up feeling like you are just trying to put up with people. You have to make sure you are not doing with people who just want to live off the grid and get high and not do anything. I like to garden alot but its not like it's no work..so I dont want to give half my food to some person who wont bother to help out etc..

I think that a commune could work but at least for me, I would have to seriousily know each person before hand before I even concidered it.

This is why I am going to school! I hope to get the opportunity to design new communities and cities. Where I live I see nothing but the destruction of the environment and for what? Parking lots and crappy buildings(I refuse to call what is mass produced in America architecture)!!!

This philosophy is what my University teaches. Its all about what you want in a place though. A well designed community can give you the reduced footprint but still offer private space and opportunities for communal interaction. These places are hard to find but they do exist! Hopefully there will be more in the future with varying degrees of amenities that are shared or private. Hopefully I'll be able to have my part of designing that future

yeah people just build ugly crap everywhere. This is another reason why I like my house..I have turned my backyard into a big perma culture garden..I have my own tropical garden on my deck and am building my own indoor gardens atm..I can build all the weird sustainable technologies I want and trippy water systems etc..

These are things I always wanted to do in apartments and just never could.

i have a big house now (well big for me anyway) spent the last 20 years living in boats mostly and sometimes a van with not enough room,literally, to swing a cat. Since owning a big house i have tried to share with 3 people due to worries about wasted space and have arrived at the conclusion that i am not cut out for shared accomodation. Now i revel in my big workshop where i can at last run my business and i have a room for my records, music paraphanalia and bed,ah yes i think its called a bedroom , the only thing i want to do now is become self sufficient with elctricety ie solar panels and the like , but thats only cos im tight fisted. dont want to save the planet, i think we need a good kick up the arse.

I believe it is a really GREAT idea, if, and only if, there are worthy people involved.

Personally, I like living by myself, with dog, because it is the ONLY place that I have control over, including who I speak to, have over, etc. I am a happy guy, as long as I'm not thrown into society and the people. Where common sense doesn't exist, generally, and comatose, ignorant, stupid, selfish people abound...................

No thanks............

IMO

I feel its extremely crucial for the devote occult practitioner to seclude themselves a great distance from eyes who would observe the practice. Also I would go mad If I had to share quarters with another, making it hard to grasp the idea that humans are pack animals.

I sometimes wonder what if humans lived like schools of fish, if we would act as a whole instead of living in separation... We could accomplish bigger things. One would have to lose all attachment to individuality

One of the big issues is that in any group, there will be one person who is the hardest working and most motivated, and another who is the laziest and least motivated, and everyone in between. This is inevitable. So if you are the hardest working, how long will you be willing to pick up the slack of everyone else? And once this aspect of a group dynamic starts to really clarify, it's all downhill from there. The idea of everyone having equal responsibilities sounds great until you start to see all the different reactions that people have to these responsibilities. Everyone is different, so expecting equal participation is just not realistic.

We live in a too-big house, 6500 square feet of it, plus an outbuilding we use as a studio. We bought the place for a song, half finished and abandoned, and have spend the last 15 years fixing it up. And as much as I enjoy the place it's maintenance intensive and has too many damned stairs. I'm all about privacy and personal space, but realistically we'd be fine with half the space. When I get older and have less energy there's no way I'll be able to keep up with the place. For now we'll make the most of it. And I'm happy to not have roommates... I definitely am not a pack animal. No offense to you lovely Nexus folk.

I currently have an apartment which is pretty big, well from what im used to in the UK. Everyone says oh you should share get a roommate to save money, I couldnt even share with my best friend. Im anti social at the best of times. I like to come home and play music whenever I want, i have a music room separate from my lounge and bedroom and can make as much noise as I like I love this place and could only ever share with a woman im in relationship with, even then Ive struggled in the past. My fathers the exact same prefers his own company, when I was younger yes im 32 now and its a big no no. I couldnt ever see myself in some sort of commune living with loads of people, sounds like a complete nightmare, to each their own though.

Having people around me all the time drains my energy, my girlfriend and I are both pretty introverted and like our alone time. In the future I can see myself living in the type of situation your describing with family and close friends though. I would definatly want to have my own kids / grandkids around when I'm to old to work my land thats for sure. After visiting my grandparents on their acerage and seeing them too crippled to maintain the garden it really hit home how necissary it is to have younger people around to help you when you are old.

Many of the greatest minds, that discovered incredible things, were self isolating beings.

I believe, that being one of the sheep, and following the herd, is DEFINATELY the wrong way to go.

So good luck with being one of the fish in the school.......

I prefer to graduate to higher levels.

baaa baaaa baaaa

Not for me, thanks!!

In case you're not aware of it already, maybe you should consider getting involved with this project:

https://www.dmt-nexus.me...aspx?g=posts&t=24582

This rings true for my experience with just me and my wife as well.

Yes we could live in a smaller house. We lived in single bedroom apartments up until we bought our 3 bedroom house. Now we have places for friend and family to stay, and we have room for arts, and music, and gardening.

I don't think I could ever do the commune. Not as described here.
What can I say I grew up in the era of individualism...and though I try to transcend it, the truth is I just don't get along with most other people.

Peace

what about the people who prefer the privacy and peace of living on their own?
i say, if you can afford a 4 floor mansion then why can't you stay in it on your own?

i also echo jamie's sentiments.

I'm in a class that is strictly about neighborhoods, remember that not all neighborhoods are the same! There are several types that offer different variations of privacy and communal interaction. There is no such thing as a perfect neighborhood for all society because everyone is different. The goal is make a neighborhood suite a certain type of people, not to attract ALL people. If that were so then we'd have all the issues that have been talked about already. Where I live you have barely any options of types, you either live in a suburb, or in a rural area, which sucks if you don't like driving!
So simply to say, don't think of any of these suggestions as a template to plop everywhere.