Sieben Linden Ecovillage A social-ecological model-settlement aiming to connect people to natural systems

Sieben Linden Ecovillage aims to establish a socially and environmentally progressive model settlement – both as a village and a community. The settlement is planned as a living and working space for 300 people of all age groups and social/cultural backgrounds. The ecovillage aims to enable its inhabitants to live through self-governance and as self-sufficiently as possible. We finance our lives individually but share some costs including food and utilities. Our own organisations provide some jobs but the majority of our members have to find paid work outside of the community.

In 1997, we started to build the model settlement as an autonomous spatial unit located on a 22 hectar plot outside of the village Poppau, Germany. Since then, the village has significantly grown. We now have several big houses for community members and all are built with high ecological standards using mostly local materials, many with straw bale insulation and mud plastering.Others still live in trailers. We run a thriving seminar center, a forest kindergarten, a mailorder business, and a big garden.

As a community, we have a council system to enable all members to participate in decision making while trying to stay efficient in the process. We gather at least twice a year for periods of five days or more for „intensive times“ to reconnect and discuss the general path we are taking.

Ecological living is definitely a value we all share and the sense of community is also very important component. We integrate new members through a process of getting to know each other and a trial period which is preceded by a two week seminar we call „community course“. All those living here strive towards manageable and transparent social structures the foster cooperation and connection between human beings and nature.