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Understudied relative to other forms of intentional community, and under-recognized in policy-making circles, urban cohousing communities situate wellbeing as simultaneously social and subjective, while catering for groups of people so diverse in age. Collaborative Happiness looks at two such urban cohousing communities: Kankanmori, in Tokyo; and Quayside Village, in Vancouver. In expanding beyond mainstream approaches to happiness focused exclusively on the individual, Quayside Village and Kankanmori provide an alternative model for how to understand and practice the good life in an increasingly urbanized world marked by crisis of both social and environmental sustainability.
“This is a very useful book for established as well as forming communities. It gives the most complete view of cohousing community life that I have seen. And it will allay many fears related to the question, ‘Can cohousing work for me?’” • Communities Magazine
“[This book] is a valuable contribution to the literature on happiness and living well. Bringing together stories of residents in two co-housing projects, one in Japan and another in Canada, Catharine Kingfisher offers insights into a particular vision of living well together, with its pleasures, as well as the trials and tribulations.” • Iza Kavedžija, University of Exeter
“This is a very interesting book and a pleasure to read—Kingfisher writes well, and the book has many interesting ideas.” • Gordon Mathews, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
“I think it is unusual and unusually interesting. It takes on the challenge of dragging happiness/wellbeing studies into a much needed ‘social’ direction.” • John Clarke, The Open University
Catherine Kingfisher is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of Lethbridge. She is the author of A Policy Travelogue: Tracing Welfare Reform in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Canada (Berghahn, 2013) and Women in the American Welfare Trap (UPenn, 1996). She is also the editor of Western Welfare in Decline: Globalization and Women's Poverty (UPenn, 2002)
List of Illustrations
Introduction: How Urban Cohousing Communities Can Expand How We Think about Wellbeing
Chapter 1. Kankanmori and Quayside Village: An Overview
Chapter 2. Quayside Village
Chapter 3. Kankanmori
Chapter 4. The Exchanges
Conclusion: Policies of Wellbeing
Appendix: The Film Shorts
References
Index