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.
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and given to smaller factions within it.
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.
Twin Oaks Community is an ecovillage and intentional community of about one hundred people living on 450 acres (1.8 km2) in Louisa County, Virginia. It is a member of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities. Founded in 1967, it is one of the longest-enduring and largest secular intentional communities in North America. The community's core values are cooperation, egalitarianism, nonviolence, sustainability, and income sharing. About 100 adults and 17 children live in the community.
Collaboration is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most collaboration requires leadership, although the form of leadership can be social within a decentralized and egalitarian group. Teams that work collaboratively often access greater resources, recognition and rewards when facing competition for finite resources.
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.
A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an economic benefit or saving, but can be that as well.
Ganas is an intentional community founded in 1979 in Tompkinsville, Staten Island. Ganas has non-egalitarian, tiered membership groups, and is thus a partial member at the Federation of Egalitarian Communities. The community uses a group problem-solving process called "Feedback Learning", which was begun by co-founder Mildred Gordon. The community attracted press attention after a 2006 shooting incident which led to lurid tabloid headlines. The community was founded by a group of six people, and has grown to consist of 10–12 core group members plus 60 to 70 members of varying involvement. There are three businesses run by Ganas, including a bookstore-cafe.
Acorn is a farm-based, anarchist, egalitarian, intentional community located in rural Louisa County, Virginia, United States. It is a member of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities. Acorn was started in 1993 as a spin-off community of the older, larger Twin Oaks Community. In the early 1990s, the Twin Oaks population filled to capacity, with many more people who still wished to join. The increase of people put pressure on the community, eventually having the founding of Acorn by Twin Oaks members on a 75-acre farm 7 miles away from Twin Oaks.
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.
East Wind Community is an intentional community located in the Missouri Ozarks. Founded in 1974, it is a secular and democratic community in which members hold all community assets in common. Each member is also given food, shelter, clothing, medical care, education, and a monthly stipend. All major decisions are made by direct democratic processes with managers for various positions being elected annually.
Kathleen "Kat" Kinkade was one of the eight co-founders of Twin Oaks, an intentional community in Virginia inspired by the behaviorist utopia depicted in B.F. Skinner's book Walden Two. Kinkade was the only founder to remain a community member for most of the community's history. Her daughter, Josie, was also a member of Twin Oaks as an adolescent and young adult.
Paxus Calta, born Earl Schuyler "Sky" Flansburgh, is an American political activist, communitarian and writer. He has been involved with the anti-nuclear movement and is a member of the Twin Oaks Community.
Kommune Niederkaufungen is one of the largest intentional communities in Germany. Founded in 1986, it is an egalitarian, left-wing, income-sharing commune with consensus decision-making. It is situated in a complex of former farm buildings in the historic centre of the village of Niederkaufungen (Kaufungen), seven kilometres from the city of Kassel (Hessen). It has grown from 15 founder members to 62 adults and nearly 20 children and teenagers (2009). It is a member of "Kommuja", the German network of political communes and egalitarian communities.
The Federation of Egalitarian Communities (FEC) is a group of egalitarian communities which have joined together with the common purpose of creating a lifestyle based on equality, cooperation, and harmony with the Earth. A central principal of these communities is that in exchange for a members working quota the community pays for all aspects of their life style. Members do not typically get salaries; instead, they have small allowances with which they may buy luxury items. They live, work and socialize within the community but are free to leave whenever they would like.
Diggers and Dreamers is a group that promotes intentional communities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Magic, Inc. is an intentional community, "educational think tank," and public service organization in Palo Alto, California co-founded by David Schrom to explore and promote the application of scientific principles to questions of value, or Valuescience. It has received recognition for its conservationist, community service, and educational contributions, and Stanford University has provided a course in Valuescience through Magic since 1979.
Living Energy Farm, or "LEF", is a zero fossil fuel intentional community of seven adult members plus two children on 127 acres in rural Louisa County, Virginia, United States. The farm is an Ally Community with the Federation of Egalitarian Communities. It is nine miles from Twin Oaks Community, which helped support LEF when it was being founded.
