top of page
Search

Community Living - Building Connection in an Uncertain World

  • Writer: horizonshiftlab
    horizonshiftlab
  • May 29
  • 15 min read
Four people in a bright room: one on the bed with a laptop, one sitting and smiling, one playing guitar by the window, and one drinking. Cozy vibe.
Source: cottonbro studio via pexels.com

In an era of increasing uncertainty and division, the need for strong social ties and community has never been more critical. Join us on this episode of Signal Shift as we explore the burgeoning trend of intentional community living. From innovative co-housing arrangements like "Bestie Row" and companies facilitating friend-based home buying to the rise of walkable, car-free communities and even developments centered around shared values like kindness, we uncover inspiring ways people are forging deeper connections. Could the future of living involve co-locating with like-minded individuals, whether based on friendship, shared values, or even beloved brands and creators? Tune in to discover the signals pointing towards a more interconnected and supportive future of how we live together.




Selected Links:





Episode Transcript:

Lana: (00:00)

Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Signal Shift. I'm Lana and I've got Raakhee here with me. And today this episode is about intentional community living. This is part of our series on the future of building community and connection. Community and connection is the bedrock of culture and society. It's something that we talk about often with our signals.

And in a time of growing political threats and uncertainty, strong social ties are essential infrastructure for sharing resources, for offering care and protection, for mobilizing, and for our own well-being. So I think today we'll share some signals and examples of community living and see what's in store for us today and in the future. So Raakhee, what do you have for us for community living?


Raakhee: (00:54)

I love that we are going into, I guess, social and relationship capital and talking about community living. I'm curious to see what you have as well, Lana. was like, hmm, how many different ways can you do this? So I think people might have heard of this one. This is one that I think became popular again this year. You know, a lot of these signals recently, they're not new ones.

They are things that were lurking and someone even reported about it, but they never went viral.


No one cared before because we didn't recognize the importance of them. And all those sort of stories are re-emerging now saying, wait, this person was onto something like, right, which is awesome. And they would have been really powerful signals, you know, a long time ago if we caught them then. But I'll still share the story. So in 2011,  a group of four couples who had been friends for decades really, really close, bought land and built property together. And I don't know, Ilana, you're nodding. I think you know the story. And they built these tiny homes just outside of Austin in Texas. And it's called Bestie Row. I don't think that's the name they give it. I think that's the name the internet gave it. But it's called Bestie Row.


And yeah, it was, you this is not their primary homes, it's secondary homes. it obviously was really feasible, achievable, realistic to buy this land and build these small homes, right? And really create an idyllic kind of escape for them where not only can they kind of get that holiday, but be together because that was the whole point. So the rooms themselves or their little homes are just 350 square meters. They really just one massive suite in essence, right? But what they do have is a 1500 square foot kind of common area where they would cook together and spend time together. And so the whole point is coming together and living communally, even for short spurts of time. And I thought this was really cool. I could see myself doing something like this with friends. You know, it felt really.


It felt really achievable. I think that's the point. These homes cost them 40,000 to build. I don't know what the land was. So, you know, got affected in that cost of the amount they paid for the land. But having said that all in, if this is the cost of doing something like this, this still feels a lot more achievable than ever having, gosh, forget a first property, a second property, right? If you can even have that.


This seems like a great way to do it if you can have friends that you can kind of have those good arrangements and agreements with and be able to come together, right? Ever so often. It, of course, gives them a second income also because they rent it out on Airbnb and similar. So I think it's a really smart way of thinking about, you know, how do we how do we rejig this idea of community living, of owning more property, right? Of having another income.

You kind of see the best of a lot of ideas coming together here, which is why I really liked it. And I think I saw an article kind of call it a modern communal twist on the old age home. And I was like, yeah, well, know, old age homes, it's really cool people living together and having that's why they together, they need that social connection. So there is something to take from that, you know, for all of us. of course, these homes are also built to be energy efficient.


They capture rainwater, the insulation, the way they've kind of been built with this heavy-duty spray foam, makes sure that they insulated from the heat and the cold. So, know, all those things, again, coming alive in a place like this, it's energy efficient, it's communal, it makes money for them, it's all those good things. So I really loved it. And I wonder if, you know, we're to see more and more of this kind of thing happening and people will be inspired by this.

It reminded me of one that also I think people might be familiar with, but if they're not, it's the company called Pacaso that allows you to buy either a quarter or an eighth of a property with other friends. Or you can basically come to them with four other people or seven other people and say, I want to split. Or they might even match you up with other people. Maybe three of you all are interested in buying a property. Again, it's a way of having ownership.


Right. And it keeps speaking of this theme of ownership being really important, but having ownership  of a home, of land, and a way to have a slice of that, even when you can't afford the ridiculously high prices that we have  in the United States these days. So it's still a way to kind of have that dream in a different way. ⁓Again, you've got to have those agreements with the people. It's got to be the right people for you, but a cool way to take part in the home ownership sort of economy.


Lana: (06:03)

Yeah, definitely.  Raakhee, my signal is right on with yours. And so we're thinking about the same, the same thing, which is, yeah, community living, you know, with your with your friends and with your family. And, and ⁓ yeah, so I very, very, very similar. My signal is a company called live near friends. And so that's what they do. I kind of very similar to what you're saying with the Pacaso, but facilitating friends and family living near each other and finding and buying what they call multiplayer housing. So it could be like a duplex, for example, houses with an ADU or like an apartment cluster, like a bunch of units in the same building or what they call a compound, a friend compound, just like three or more houses on a piece of land. And so,


Just like you were saying, housing is scarce, it's expensive. When we are seeing, at least on the policy side, like in California, they just passed two new bills to make it easier to build more houses on the same plot of land. So this is the middle housing, right? Like how do you fill in what used to be like single family houses, right? And put more, make it denser. And so, now we have the laws that enable it to happen. And so these types of companies are facilitating kind of that legal side, right? Their arrangements and that support, so I think that, like you were saying, it all kind of makes sense in terms of where we are today. Another example is it's like a 15 minute city in the US, it's called Culdesac Tempe. It's the first walkable car free community built from scratch in the US. And so, I mean, it's pretty cool, right? They have like ⁓ retail and shops, they have a store, they have a Korean store in Culdesac. So I'm all about it.


You know, it's very designed for communal living. And so they actually opened up an entire block. They opened up a full apartment, like a low apartment, like three story apartment building to a community who wanted to rent the whole thing together. So 15 units. Right. And so they're mostly one bedroom apartments. But it's cute. Like, you know, it has balconies. It has a little courtyard. And so they said they would provide a discount.

If a group wanted to come in and rent the entire or the bulk of the apartments for a minimum six month lease. And so I love just like the intersection of this, right? The 15 minute walkable, right? Car free community. And this idea that like you can come with like a bunch of your people, right? And rent an entire unit and try it out and live there, you know, for six months to a year. So of course you'd need the flexibility, the folks who can do that, want to do that, but at least who want to try. And so, you know, I think like for us, like we were recruited to Portland by a group of friends and we want to recruit more people to move to Portland. And so I'm all about this idea.


Raakhee: (09:54)

Oh, I love it. I was just thinking, you know, we're coming out of kind of future careers and some of the heaviness of talking about the topics there and, you know, work and, then kind of the side of life feels so hopeful now. And, you know, like, wow, like we're getting back to, I think values that we definitely lost for a little bit as a society and now recognize the importance of those simple things like living amongst people that you you care for being close to them and walkable towns Lana you know I love that so part of that place yeah it's it's it's exciting and I hope we just see more and more of that every time like you know they do something with another park here or open up another bike lane in like my town I get extremely excited I'm like yes which is going to be biking and walking, which yeah, I love to do so. I love that.


Lana: (10:57)

For sure.

Do you have another signal in mind related to community living?


Raakhee: (11:03)

Yeah, yeah, I had a, know, and so I think my first one Bestie Row was like this intimate, very achievable idea was awesome and something that felt kind of in my hands. And then I thought, okay, what is there on a bigger scale? Like somewhere where if I didn't have that, I didn't want to set that up, I could plug into, but it's still the kind of community I wanted to live in. And definitely the walkable one you mentioned, you know, something like that, Lana.


And so there's actually a place in, and this is really interesting and I loved this. I don't, I love the idea of it. I don't know how it's gonna be implemented or become real, but it's also a massive kind of community development in California as well. I think like 80 miles from Los Angeles the town has about a,100,000 plus residents right now. It's 80 miles from Los Angeles. And they're building this community development. Yeah, the intent is that what they're trying to do is have kindness as a priority. And so their whole ethos and their core like tenant and value is kindness to the extent that when you move in, you are kind of signing a kindness pledge that it's included with your community documents, And the whole, everything is designed with that in mind. And it's exactly what we were talking about. It's taking us back to the values of, you know, my neighbor should feel super comfortable to come and ask me for help and get the help. And I should be super comfortable to do the same. And not only should I be comfortable to ask for help, it should become like a norm. Like we know that we have to watch out for each other,


That's the kind of community this is, and that's what you're have to partake in to live here. And either you want that, and if you can't do that, then it's not for you. So yeah, and it's gonna be things like a lot of focus on different giving initiatives, like, this week we're hosting this charity thing, that charity, because it's a massive sort of community development, right? it's 9,000 plus acres and is going to have 15,000 single family homes in time over like the next 20 years. That's the intent. But they are already starting sales this year, I believe. And again, it's reasonable based on our market prices. So it's like 400,000 up into 700,000 and probably a little bit above as well.


But the whole point is that even the staff and everybody is going to model these acts of kindness. It's going to be in everything from like supporting local charities to having all kinds of like meal trains for neighbors and you know, to co-create this. And that's like the core thing that they want. They want to literally change our values and have this kind of almost a social experiment in bringing people together and saying, I think people want to live like this. I think people want to be this way, but we need to model it. And there'll be certain expectations, like when you have a new neighbor, you sign up that you will be a community leader who will welcome your new neighbors.


So those sorts of things become kind of a norm. yeah, they've, know, setting up all kinds of spaces where people can come together, not just, you know, yeah, not just the gym or the clubhouse and that sort of stuff. But also, Lana, to your point, really walkable. There's going to be parks, there's going to be a lake, lots of spaces. Like they're designing it really intentionally where people can come together and, you know, just be and talk and mingle and meet each other. So it's not designed with like I get in my car, I drive, I come back and I don't see anybody else. Like you will be forced to participate in engagement through the design ofyou know, this development as well. So it's called Silverwood. Yeah, it's in California. And I really like the ethos of it. I think we're to see more communities like this. I know we see these high end, gym, sauna, wellness kind of things that are taking off a lot. Right. And they're becoming very popular with the community developments and the apartments. And but I think what is missing is what these guys are doing, which is saying, it's not about that. It's about this connection and a value and how people feel living in a place and how do we bring that back? And if they can achieve that, that'll be amazing.


Lana: (15:26)

Wow, very, yeah, was on the edge of my seat because I was wondering what the name was. And so we definitely want to look into that. So you said it's Silverwood. I'm really curious about this because, you know, I think one of the things about having guidelines and values is that they also need to be enforced in a way, right? That's how we protect people by enforcing the guideline.


Love to see how they model and hold up these values of kindness, we really need it, you know? And especially this very polarizing environment that we're in, really looking for ways to like, kind of split us up. And so I love this idea of the kindness, but I'm also very curious about how they'll, you know, reinforce something that is, you know, I think something that we need more of. And especially like in our digital world, and we and we've talked about that, like, people are quite unkind. And so probably need some exercises on how, how to live this, this lifestyle.


Raakhee: (16:47)

kind way to put it, I they're a lot more than unkind.


Lana: (16:51)

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, mine is actually, again, like really similar to yours. It's a similar flavor of that. You know, when you're talking about sort of values based co-living, mine is co-living organized around brands or even creators, content creators. And so I found this really interesting post on Skype. His name's Jackson Steeger, and he was a contestant on the Beast Games. And so this was a reality show created by the YouTuber Mr. Beast. It was on Netflix, I think, 500 people to win $5 million. I didn't watch it. But as part of this, what I understand is that they created Beast City. And so he said Jimmy Donaldson, who's Mr. Beast, he says like in the trailer that they spent over 15 million dollars to build a city from scratch. It's on an airfield outside of Toronto. And it had like a five-story tower, a cafe, a sports facility, had living quarters on the edges and like a communal quad in the middle. And all the contestants live there, right. And all the people, I assume, affiliated with the show.


But this person who was a contestant and got, I guess, pretty far said that, you know, the people who lived in Beast City, like they became best friends because they all shared an appreciation for Mr. Beast. And, ⁓ you know, they opted into this experience. And, you know, he was like theorizing or speculating that like, you know, he or others, they would pay to live there like in a creator-themed community. so, you know, sharing amenities and themed experiences because they already have something in common. And so I thought this was like a pretty, like, interesting idea. And, you know, you can, we're really living in an age of the super fans, right? And so like, yeah, maybe if you really love something or someone or some, you know, like a concept, like that you would live with others who share that thing in common with you. And so I tried to think about like brands that might have, you know, something like this. And so I did find one, which is Disney World. And so they do have a really high end development within Disney World called Golden Oak and homes range from nine million to about $15 million. And these homes are like decked out thematically by different Disney movies. And so the community, have to pay in addition to the home, have to pay for $19,000 per year for the membership to the community itself. It's staffed by Disney cast members.


You get a platinum pass to the park. You get door-to-door service from your home to the park. So there's all these amenities that are connected to this very exclusive, but very Disney-themed way of living. And so I guess...you know, just kind of thinking about that, like kind of, you know, what you were saying, like co-living around values, but it's an, it's an interesting way of how ⁓ values are either represented by like a content creator, right, or by a brand. And that folks believe in that enough that they would want to kind of live in that place. So I thought that was interesting.


Raakhee: (21:03)

Yeah, totally. I love that. I didn't kind of make that link between values personified in a brand or a person, right? And like for me, like Disney is like the side of it where it's like, yeah, no. Right. mean, but you're right, right. They have these really neat communities. Even in Hawaii, like I think they have a Disney hotel and like people will choose to go to Hawaii, but have a Disney experience in Hawaii, right? or I think they've been building another community like here, right? 


So it's, yeah, it's really interesting. I people buy into that. I can imagine people doing the same thing for like Harry Potter or, you know, worlds like that, right? And how about this one? This one I'd be interested in. I was just thinking about this while you were speaking, Lana, but how about something that's like K-drama? was like, ooh, I might like this. Like my niece will like that.

You know as ridiculous as it sounds but it's like, you know, I think people would be interested in that right and like living in these worlds that emulate that kind of thing. So I think there's definitely something there. I will say and even when you said creator I was like really but then I thought about like certain wellness influencers. Like you know I was like ⁓ but if it's yoga or like whole foods I make I can open to it suddenly, right? So it's all about the values, like you said. It can be so varied. It all depends on who you gravitate towards because of the value. So I think that's super interesting.


Lana: (22:39)

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I think like when we say creator, like it has a certain connotation. But I think you're right. Like it does. I mean, you can probably think about people who you admire or like follow or believe in. and that brings like a different like feeling or reaction. So that's right. Yeah, so this was a fun one, you know, to to kick off our our a theme of social and relational capital and how to build that and thinking about how to build a community and live in intentional community. So thanks so much for joining us for this episode. And as always, check out our website. It's horizonshiftlab.com.

So thanks so much and see you next time.



Comments

bottom of page