“How Cohousing Can Make Us Happier (and Live Longer)”

Grace Kim, (2017), in the video “How Cohousing Can Make Us Happier (and Live Longer)” outlines the ways cohousing can help individuals feel less lonely and prolong human lives. Man-made infrastructure, according to the author, is the main source of loneliness because it produces a false sense of connection and greater disconnectedness from the outside world. Nonetheless, the speaker claims that cohousing is the answer to loneliness. The goal of the neighborhood is to encourage individuals to look out for one another, stimulate social interactions, and form new bonds. Furthermore, the purpose of cohousing is to live together. According to Kim (2017), the environment of cohousing helps to promote the sense of “communitas” or the “spirit of community”. When all people gather and have a dinner, for instance, they project more activities and as a result exchange more ideas with one another. Moreover, she states that a cohousing arrangement can save a person's life. For example, research done by Brigham Young University (2015) shows that solitude is linked to inclined risk of premature death. Finally, Kim (2017) discusses how cohousing might help alleviate isolation and lengthen human lives in her lecture.