An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An ecovillage strives to produce the least possible negative impact on the natural environment through intentional physical design and resident behavior choices. It is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes to regenerate and restore its social and natural environments. Most range from a population of 50 to 250 individuals, although some are smaller, and traditional ecovillages are often much larger. Larger ecovillages often exist as networks of smaller sub-communities. Some ecovillages have grown through like-minded individuals, families, or other small groups—who are not members, at least at the outset—settling on the ecovillage's periphery and participating de facto in the community. There are currently more than 10,000 ecovillages around the world.
Ford Heights is a village and a suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,813 at the 2020 census. Many of the area’s first settlers were African American and since its incorporation in 1949 the village has remained predominantly Black. Due to the lack of commercial activity and financial stability, the village has declined over the years. Urban renewal efforts were attempted in the 1960s, although the village has continued to decline.
Park Forest is a village located south of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, with a small southern portion in Will County, Illinois, United States. The village was originally designed by Loebl Schlossman & Bennett as a planned community for veterans returning from World War II. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 21,687. Park Forest has multiple public and private schools. In addition to the arts and culture scene including Tall Grass Arts Association and the Illinois Theatre Center, residents also have access to a myriad of recreational opportunities for both children and adults such as the Park Forest Aqua Center. Notable people from Park Forest include the former artistic director of the Illinois Theatre Center, Etel Billig. Park Forest is bordered by Olympia Fields to the north, Chicago Heights to the east, University Park to the south, and Richton Park and Matteson to the west.
Cohousing is an intentional community of private homes clustered around shared space. The term originated in Denmark in the late 1960s. Each attached or single-family home has traditional amenities, including a private kitchen. Shared spaces typically feature a common house, which may include a large kitchen and dining area, laundry, and recreational spaces. Shared outdoor space may include parking, walkways, open space, and gardens. Neighbors also share resources like tools and lawnmowers.
An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision, and typically share responsibilities and property. This way of life is sometimes characterized as an "alternative lifestyle". Intentional communities can be seen as social experiments or communal experiments. The multitude of intentional communities includes collective households, cohousing communities, coliving, ecovillages, monasteries, survivalist retreats, kibbutzim, hutterites, ashrams, and housing cooperatives.
Pocket-Greenhaven is a suburban community within the city of Sacramento, California, 5 miles south of downtown Sacramento. It is bordered by Interstate 5 on the east and a semi-circular "pocket" bend in the Sacramento River on the south, west, and north. The three exits into the Pocket-Greenhaven community off Interstate 5 are 43rd Avenue, Florin Road, and Pocket/Meadowview Road. Entering the area from the South on Interstate 5, travelers pass a landmark water tower with the words "Welcome to SACRAMENTO AMERICA'S FARM-TO-FORK CAPITAL" painted on it, marking the southern boundary of the city of Sacramento. The water tower was originally blank and looked very much like a spaceship alongside wheat and barley fields. Pocket-Greenhaven is located in the 95831 Zipcode.
The Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC), formerly the Fellowship of Intentional Communities then the Fellowship for Intentional Community, provides publications, referrals, support services, and "sharing opportunities" for a wide range of intentional communities including: cohousing groups, community land trusts, communal societies, class-harmony communities, housing cooperatives, cofamilies, and ecovillages, along with community networks, support organizations, and people seeking a home in community. The FIC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in the United States.
Communities: Life in Cooperative Culture is a quarterly magazine published by the Global Ecovillage Network - United States. It is a primary resource for information, issues, and ideas about intentional communities in North America. Articles and columns cover practical "how-to" issues of community living as well as personal stories about forming new communities, decision-making, conflict resolution, raising children in community, and sustainability.
The Adelphi Community is an intentional community, population 16, 25 miles east of Dallas, Texas, USA. It has streets, private homes, eight townhouses, a community well, community gardens and a sewage treatment plant.
The Chicago Southland is a region comprising the south and southwest suburbs of the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. Home to roughly 2.5 million residents, this region has been known as the Southland by the local populace and regional media for over 20 years. Despite this relatively recent term, some older native Southlanders and current local advertisements colloquially refer to the Southland as the Southside, meaning on the southern side/border of Chicago as extended into the suburbs since some of them previously lived on Chicago's Southside but moved to the suburbs during post WWII white flight.
A community association is a nongovernmental association of participating members of a community, such as a neighborhood, village, condominium, cooperative, or group of homeowners or property owners in a delineated geographic area. Participation may be voluntary, require a specific residency, or require participation in an intentional community. Community associations may serve as social clubs, community promotional groups, service organizations, youth sports group, community gardens, or quasi-governmental groups.
Parkfairfax is a neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia, United States, located in the northwestern part of the city near the boundary with Arlington County. Nearby thoroughfares are Interstate 395, State Route 402, and West Glebe Road.
David Hatcher Childress is a French-born American author, and the owner of Adventures Unlimited Press, a publishing house established in 1984 specializing in books on unusual topics such as ancient mysteries, unexplained phenomena, pseudohistory, and historical revisionism. His own works primarily concentrate on pseudoarchaeological and pseudoscientific topics such as "UFOs, secret societies, suppressed technology, cryptozoology [and] conspiracy theory." Childress, having no degree, refers to himself as a "rogue archaeologist".
Donald E. Stephens was the first village president (mayor) of Rosemont, Illinois, US. He was also a leading Illinois Republican politician.
The Communities Directory, A Comprehensive Guide to Intentional Community provides listing of intentional communities primarily from North America but also from around the world. The Communities Directory has both an online and a print edition, which is published based on data from the website.
The Miccosukee Land Cooperative (MLC) is a cohousing community. It is located near Tallahassee, in northeastern Leon County, Florida.
Barclay is a neighborhood in the center of Baltimore City. Its boundaries, as defined by the City Planning Office, are marked by North Avenue, Greenmount Avenue, Saint Paul and 25th Streets. The neighborhood lies north of Greenmount West, south of Charles Village, west of East Baltimore Midway, and east of Charles North and Old Goucher. The boundary between the Northern and Eastern police districts runs through the community, cutting it roughly in half.
Celo Community, Incorporated is a communal settlement in the Western mountains of North Carolina, United States, located in the South Toe River valley of Yancey County, in the South Toe Township between the unincorporated areas of Celo and Hamrick. It was founded in 1937 by Arthur Ernest Morgan. Celo is a land trust with its own rules of taxation and land tenure that runs its internal government by consensus. The community does not require its members to accept any religion or ideology, but is based on ideals of cooperation between residents and care for the natural environment. However, its membership is predominantly Quakers. Celo has 40 families living on its 1,200 acres (4.9 km2).
Earthaven is an ecovillage in Western North Carolina, about 50 minutes from Asheville.
