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Home Community

Cultural & Ecological designing


last update: May 2, 2000

Here and Now [ Here and Now | Information Resources ]
  • Acorn Community - a cooperative, secular, intentional community located in central Virginia, "...working toward a diverse egalitarian society that embraces feminism, ecological sustainability, multiculturalism, diverse sexual and gender orientations, and personal spiritual growth."
  • Alpha Farm - an intentional community in rural western Oregon, composed of "people who have chosen to live and work together to share a more harmonious way of living." Reflects Quaker values such as consensus decision-making, land stewardship, simple living and the like.
  • Ash Grove Community Farm - in Corning, New York, with intent to "...provide a model of sustainable agriculture and intentional community lifestyle." Includes a CSA, dairy goat herd, apprenticeships, events and workshops, and various visitor and resident possibilities.
  • Blue Heron Farm - "a community of people who have purchased 64 acres of field and woodlands to share, protect, use and enjoy together in the central Piedmont area of North Carolina." Includes member info and photos, a non-profit educational association, a bit of history of the land and buildings, info on their alternative wastewater treatment system and more.
  • Crossroads Medieval Village - in Australia, owned by a co-operative, aiming to re-create a medieval village and castle and its surrounds of farmland, forest and hamlets...with a difference, as they are using Permaculture as their basis for forest, agriculture and other support systems design.
  • Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage - "...an ecovillage in progress on 280 acres of beautiful northeastern Missouri rolling hills." Dancing Rabbit folks are working with natural building methods, permaculture design, a vehicle co-op, bio-diesel fuel production, publishing a newsletter and more - most of which is detailed (including pictures) on-line.
  • Deer Rock Community - in Virgina, in the process of re-grouping after some initial startup complications. This site has some useful sample documents, such as a membership agreement, bylaws, and vision statement, and also a valuable narrative showing some of the complexities of a process such as forming an intentional community.
  • Dreamtime Village - near West Lima, Wisconsin, "...an experiment in ecovillage design whose mission is to create new planetary culture...Our challenge is to design a landscape where we can create art that is functional, alive, & fantasmagorical while simultaneously serving as an eco-village demonstration and a hands-on learning environment for people of all ages..."
  • East Palo Alto Historical and Agricultural Society - A community-based, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the historical, agricultural, and cultural integrity of East Palo Alto, California, as a model of sustainable development. Good examples and samples of diversity- and sustainability-oriented community planning processes that are actually implemented or in the process of creation!
  • East Wind Community - in the Ozark mountains of southern Missouri, "...a secular, egalitarian intentional community...to eventually serve as a model of a society that is free, democratic, cooperative and egalitarian; without violence and exploitation." Income-sharing, economically self-sustaining and in existence since 1973.
  • Eddie's Nimbin page - one member's pages about Nimbin Rocks Cooperative near Nimbin in Australia. An individual story that offers insights into what might be involved in joining and living in such a community. Includes info on some "appropriate technolgy" projects he's working on.
  • The Farm - Founded in 1971, committed to simple living and self-reliance - the Farm has pioneered a wide range of social and physical technologies for low-cost, high satisfaction community living.
  • Findhorn Bay Community - yes, that Findhorn - an international community and developing eco-village of about 350 people in the northeast of Scotland. Founded in 1962 near the seaside village of Findhorn. See also Erraid, an island community with strong connections to Findhorn.
  • Goose Creek Farm - an eco-village in the making in Casey County, south central Kentucky. Go to the latter part of the second page to see the info for prospective eco-village participants.
  • Heathcote Intentional Community - an example of a community in process, based on Permaculture principles - information on the community itself, workshops offered, conference center facilities, visiting, joining, and the School of Living!
  • Infinite Sun - Action towards sustainable urban living in Kansas City. Wide-ranging list of links, from activism to sustainability and probably even something starting with 'Z'.
  • Kookaburra Park Eco-Village - an ongoing experiment in community currently being created in Australia. Land use is based on Permaculture principles.
  • Los Angeles Eco-Village - a sustainable community in process and the west coast node for the Ecovillage Network of the Americas. Yes, it's really happening, and really working, and right in the middle of "El Lay" (as Joe Bob would say...). Urban community examples abound here. Check it out!
  • Meadowdance - "...an egalitarian, child centered community that welcomes human diversity, ecological sensibility, mutual learning and joy." Located near Battleboro, in Southeastern Vermont, USA. In the process of formation since April 1977.
  • Occidental Arts and Ecology Center - an intentional community and educational institute founded in 1994 by a group of biologists, artists, activists, educators and horticulturists. Striving to practice what they teach - practical approaches to the social, economic, environmental and spiritual challenges of our day - on a beautiful piece of land near Occidental in Sonoma county, California, USA.
  • Sanctuary - a developing eco-village located in Northwest lower Michigan (U.S.A.). Notes on an Eco-village model, sustainable enterprises, contact and participation information, and community development assistance.
  • Sirius Community - an example of an existing and evolving experiment in community, both physical and cultural. There is a green building apprentice program and well-developed internship positions as well.
  • Sharingwood Cohousing community - in southern Snohomish county, Washington state, USA. An active, growing cohousing community. This site includes a document library as a resouce for others involved in community creation.
  • Student Housing Cooperative at Michigan State - a large, participatory, land-trust-based student housing co-op based on Rochdale cooperative principles. Information on how the co-op grew, how it operates, and of course links to other co-op related sites!
  • Twin Oaks Community - Established in 1967, located in rural central Virginia, based on cooperation, nonviolence, and equality. Income-sharing, self-governing, and partly self-sufficient. Communal income comes from a variety of cottage industries.
  • Utopian EcoVillage Network - a forming ecovillage offering "tropical hilly geographical paradise in Ecuador...an intentional community with a self-sufficient goal, we seek people who have a strong desire to live communally." Mission statement and info on membership, goals, processes, intentions and other community details.
  • Windward - an association of non-profits, including: the Windward Foundation, a non-profit corporation dedicated to developing, communicating and implementing the principles of self-reliance - finding ways to take their lives in positive directions and helping others do the same; and the Windward Center, providing support for individuals personally committed to the process of making a substantial life transition.
  • ZEGG - the Center for Experimental Cultural Design, formed in 1991 in Germany; "...an experimental space for the creation of a new cultural model." Intentions include "...to explore and pass on the spiritual and practical knowledge for the building of a vivid, humane and nonviolent culture." Inspiration for the North American Network for a New Culture.
  • Zen Center of Hawai'i - located on the pastoral outskirts of Waimea (Kamuela) on the Big Island of Hawai'i. The director and spiritual teacher is Robert Joshin Althouse, a Soto Zen Buddhist Priest who has also studied in the Tibetan Tantric tradition with Trungpa Rinpoche and Gyaltrul Rinpoche. The Center offers meditations, workshops, sesshins (retreats), and opportunities for bearing witness via community events and other aspects of "engaged Buddhism," including a community garden!
Information Resources [ Here and Now | Information Resources ]
  • Bega EcoDevelopment Project Briefing Paper - a group in the Bega Valley in South East NSW, Australia, that has been meeting since April 1996 and exploring ways of creating more ecologically and economically sustainable human settlement. This paper offers current results of their inquiries.
  • Center for Sustainable Communities - in the Cascadia Bioregion (Pacific Northwest, North America). Resources such as case studies, a library, contact info and a tutorial on sustainability. The contact info ranges from local to global and covers a wide range of focuses.
  • Community Coalition for Environmental Justice - comprised of representatives and residents of diverse communities of the greater Seattle region. Members are dedicated to bringing together all communities in an effort to address issues of disproportionate environmental risk in communities of the economically disadvantaged. 4759 15th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98105; (206) 527-1695.
  • Community Currency - information, resources and events related to localized and community currency, barter and exchange systems.
  • Creating Land Trusts - just like it says, all about creating land trusts, including history, examples, basic information, related organizations, books and other publications.
  • Ecopsychology on-line - an e-magazine with quality information, articles, and essays on and about ecopsychology - theories, research, practices, and experiences. Also archives of past issues and links to additional resources.
  • Eco-village Information Network. A service of the Global Eco-village Network - international site for the eco-village concept and movement. Check out their chock-full resources page for more relevant sites. This organization also provides the EcoBalance on-line discussion group.
  • Hawai'i Nation - provides some perspectives on the restoration of the independence of Hawai`i, along with various cultural perspectives from her people. A rich site that goes well beyond the usual stereotypes of Hawai'i, with links to published articles, position papers, news items, histories, legal documents, political actions, and related sites.
  • HopeDance - a grassroots, all-volunteer community magazine for the San Luis Obispo region on the central coast of California, USA. They "...publish material and engage in activities that are necessary in building an ecologically sustianable, holistic, healthy and awakened community."
  • Impact Online - a nonprofit with a mission of facilitating and increasing community involvement. Major focus on coordinating volunteer organizations and opportunities by way of volunteer opportunity listings, nonprofit service and organization directories and information about volunteering.
  • Intentional Communities - a resource and information site embracing a variety of ideas and forms for what some call "intentional communities." Who wants to live in community? Well, you already are...can you imagine an unintentional community? Is there such a thing? Think about it...
  • Ka'u Landing - "An Independent Monthly Journal Dedicated to Community Collaboration and a Sustainable Future for the Islands of Hawai`i." Stuff on and about Hawai'i and the Big Island that you'll never hear about in mainland news media...now providing a monthly sampling of on-line articles, plus complete table of contents and advertiser index.
  • LandTrust online discussion list - a listserv for individuals and groups interested in the topic of land trusts.
  • Lux Intentional Communities Page - home base on the web for an intentional community project in Vermont, U.S.A. Also has pages with community-related links and a list of collected threads of online alternative energy discussions.
  • MenWeb - M.E.N. Magazine - The Men's Evolvement Network site, with most all of the Seattle M.E.N. magazine content available for browsing. Also general information and links to further resources for Men's work, groups, organizations and the like.
  • Network for a New Culture - a North American organization that "...seeks to build a sustainable, violence-free culture through exploring intimacy, personal growth, transparency, radical honesty, equality, compassion, sexual freedom, and the power of community." Originally inspired by the German community ZEGG. The site has a document library, discussion group and other resources and there are scheduled retreats and workshops, including an annual summer camp, in the non-virtual world.
  • Northwest Intentional Communities Association - coordinating exchange of information and resources between Northwest intentional Communities and others; facilitating communication and networking between local, regional, and national intentional communities organizations. Portions of their newsletter are available online. There is a great collection of resources for potential and existing communities!
  • Pomegranate Center - the mission of Pomegranate center is "to engage communities in creative experiments integrating a celebration of the arts, an appreciation of the natural environment and a thoughtful use of public resources." The center develops and offers skills and resources to help communities find a balance between economic, environmental, educational, social, community, and spiritual concerns.
  • Sustainable Communities Network - addresses a broad range of issues and offers a broad range of resources "for those who want to help make their communities more livable." Sections on economy, resources, governance, lifestyle, case studies and much more.
  • Syntropo - "An interactive on-line magazine dedicated to the global intentional community movement and the pioneers who are re-thinking human societies." Interactive discussions & glossary; postboard; book list; articles; etc. This is just getting started - go help it out!
  • The Trust for Public Land - a national nonprofit "...working exclusively to protect land for human enjoyment and well-being." Lots of info on public land trusts, examples, resources, news bulletins and how you can help.
  • VITA Village Technology Center and Catalog - "...introducing effective tools and techniques with particular emphasis on those items which increase agricultural productivity, improve housing, health and sanitation, and promote local industry in the developing areas of the world." Their catalog has "simple" technology items with descriptions and illustrations and a link to a page explaining their approach and philosophy.
  • World Transformation web space - an eclectic site loaded with links. Go explore for yourself...


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