The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2 - 59

Intentional Democratic Communities

the history of the United States and the philosophies on which it was founded. Crookston relied heavily on his own experience growing up in a Latter Day Saints (Mormon) community in Utah, his understanding of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1962), and some of the writings of the early organizational development specialists (Maslow, 1965; Kanter, 1972) to structure his model for teaching students how to become effective, committed citizens.

The content of the community is the democratic process, and most of the conceptual and theoretical elements are drawn from political science, sociology, anthropology, and economics . Courses taught in such a community combine the study of the disciplines with the application of disciplinary concepts to community life .

TYPES OF INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES
Crookston described four types of intentional communities: content-centered, environmentcentered, person-centered, and group-centered (1974). These types of communities overlap significantly, and indeed all these types contribute to an IDC. The content of the community is the democratic process, and most of the conceptual and theoretical elements are drawn from political science, sociology, anthropology, and economics. Courses taught in such a community combine the study of the disciplines with the application of disciplinary concepts to community life. The environmental elements have to do with both internal and external focus, managing the residential community and focusing some of the community activities toward its wider environment, either on or off campus. Environmental elements would now include serving locally grown food in the dining room, recycling efforts, interior design, decoration of the building, and sharing community ideas and practices with other residence halls on campus. The person-centered elements, a clear reference to Maslovian ideas, have to do with self-knowledge and development of interpersonal and group skills, as well

as learning how to make choices and meet commitments to the community. These elements are expressed in the internal dynamics of the community. Recent developments in anthropology and psychology now make it clear that individuals develop in a group context so that group elements of the community are engaged in the daily course of events as individuals learn to become effective, committed group members and leaders.

THE POWER OF ENGAGEMENT
According to Block (2008), a current community organizer, “leadership is convening; questions are more transforming than answers... conversations materialize belonging...welcoming of strangers is essential and physical and social space support belonging” (pp. 8384). Block asserts that “citizenship is a state of being” (p.65) and “Our work is to build

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2