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The Sustainability Institute and Lynedoch Eco-Village

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  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • English
  • Ecological
  • Rural

Founding year

  • 1999

What we do

Founded in 1999, the Sustainability Institute is an intergenerational learning and living imaginarium that challenges existing paradigms by blending creativity, innovation and imagination to nurture regenerative ecological and social ways of being. The SI is a place where research, practice and community converge. We are located outside the South African university town of Stellenbosch. Surrounded by the breathtaking beauty of the Cape’s towering mountains and rooted in an agricultural community needing to break free from its’ racial past, the Sustainability Institute provides a space for people to explore an approach to creating a more equitable society that lives in a way that sustains rather than destroys the eco-system within which all society is embedded.
The Sustainability Institute forms part of the wider Lynedoch EcoVillage. The Eco-Village is an ecologically designed, socially mixed community built around a learning precinct. It is a mixed community of 30 families from diverse racial and social-economic groups built around a child-centered learning precinct, which is a financially and economically viable community requiring no external funding to sustain itself. It is also a working example of a livable ecologically designed urban system that challenges the notion that sustainable development and ecological building is too expensive. Various ecological design approaches have been integrated into the building of the Eco-Village. https://lynedochecovillage.wordpress.com/
Our history has been written up in this book (https://www.sustainabilityinstitute.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/SI-20YRS-Full-Doc-small-spreads.pdf).
For more information on the Sustainability Institute, visit www.sustainabilityinstitute.net

  • Purpose
  • Ecological
  • Languages
  • English
  • Community type
  • Ecovillage
  • Intentional Neighborhoods
  • Land-Based Communities
  • Activities
  • Ecological Restoration
  • Permaculture

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1999
  • Started living together

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  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
90

How to join

This will depend on whether houses are available for sale or rent. Best would be to enquire with in**@*********************te.net for more information. Some homestay opportunities are also available.

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Our Members

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Amelia Pretorius

Lynedoch Eco-Village at the Sustainability Institute
South Africa

Location

  • South Africa

The Sustainability Institute and Lynedoch Eco-Village

Promoted Needs and Offers

Need
  • Events
9 years ago

Autumn PDC 2017 Greece, Tinos Island

Autumn 2017 Permaculture Design Course 23 September – 5 October (12 days, 80 hours certificate) Led by Andrew Jordan and Elena Symeonidou We are excited to announce the second FULL PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE (PDC) that will be hosted in Tinos Eco-lodge with two knowledgeable teachers Andrew Jordan from Ireland and Elena Symeonidou from Greece. The Permaculture Design Certificate The Permaculture Design Certificate is an 80 hour theoretical course based on Bill Mollison’s Designers Manual, teaching how we can use today’s tools and technology to create a more sustainable world. Permaculture is not only about growing vegetables and animals, it is a whole sustainable lifestyle. Permaculture ethics are Earth Care, People Care and Return of Surplus and this is taught by showing students to focus on local resources and their local community, and to have well thought out design practices to create abundance sustainably. Andrew and Elena aim at inspiring students with their own very real examples of transforming their lives with permaculture in a contemporary context. Having worked in a broad spectrum of climate and social conditions, they will share with their students the thrills but also the challenges they faced. Oftentimes permaculture is being presented as a panacea for world problems and the road to resilience and abundance is depicted as straightforward and easy. Andrew and Elena will challenge this notion and try to prepare their students in a realistic manner for their own fascinating journey towards change. Nikos will share his hands-on experience of building the ecolodge and designing the energy, water, plant and waste systems. We will have the rare opportunity to discuss and elaborate on Nikos’ and Marilia’s choices on different aspects of their project, reflect on the challenges, opportunities and limitations. Anyone who wants to bring a big change in his life and gain a thorough understanding of how we can use our natural e

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Communities

A residential project: people live here as their primary home.

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An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).

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