Diana Leafe Christian reports about intentional communities in North American cities. She believes creating community in your existing neighborhood is a growing trend. In a few years we may have more organized-neighborhood projects to report on. … Read more
urban ecovillages
Urban Ecovillages USA Enright Ridge Urban Ecovillage, Cincinnati, Ohio
Like L.A. Eco-Village, Enright Ridge Urban Ecovillage (www.enrightecovillage.org) in Cincinnati, Ohio, was also created by neighbors in an already-existing neighborhood. Enright Avenue has 80 one-story to two-and three-story older houses and with 10 rental units along both sides of a three-quarter-mile-long narrow cul-de-sac street in a working class neighborhood. The homes range from small one-story dwellings to two-and three-story houses, most built in the late 1800s through about 1915. … Read more
USA: Urban Ecovillages N St. Cohousing, Central Valley, California
Another similar urban project is N St. Cohousing (http://www.ic.org/directory/n-street-cohousing) in Davis, a college town in California’s Central Valley. Unlike the urban examples described above, N St. neighbors live on all sides of a city block in a shady residential area, and each owns or rents their own house and lot. (While N St. is a cohousing community rather than an ecovillage, I include it because of it has many of the same sustainability aspects as an urban ecovillage.) Even though … Read more
Micro Biogas Systems for Ecovillages The Community Biogas Wave - an Offer to European Ecovillages by Thomas Culhane
In 2012, Thomas Culhane – who prefers to be called TH – was invited to Tamera to teach the building of small scale biogas digesters to participants of the Global Campus. Since then, the digester in Tamera has been used throughout the years, to provide energy every day for cooking for a large part of the community. The enthusiasm for biogas has spread to other places such as: Favela da Paz (Sao Paulo), the Peace Community San José de Apartadó in Colombia, and OTEPIC (Kenya). During … Read more
São Paulo, Brazil Community Gardens in the Largest Metropolis of the Southern Hemisphere
Public parks, abandoned lots, pavements and even churches: in São Paulo every piece of land has the potential of turning into a community garden. After all, where food is planted citizenship grows! Henny Freitas reports. Imagine an avenue where over 1.5 million people transit every day, and where more than 4,200 cars and 200 buses go by per hour at peak times. What you have just imagined is the main financial road of São Paulo: Avenida Paulista. Now imagine a community garden in the midst of … Read more
GEN Europe Conference July 9 - 13, 2014, in ZEGG, Germany
The annual GEN Europe Conference is more than a meeting place for GEN Europe members. As the ecovillage movement is merging with other movements for decentralized solutions and applied sustainability - such as Permaculture or Transition Towns - it is a place where the most interesting developments are shared, discussed, further developed, and presented to an interested public, to community seekers, founders, and change makers of all kinds. You are warmly invited to join us and get an updated … Read more
Ecovillage Zoning in North America Three North American Ecovillages Innovate “Ecovillage Zoning”
Many ecovillages overstep regulations with the hope of not being caught out. However, when ecovillages obtain official permission for ecological innovations, similar projects in their areas will benefit, for they create precedents in their countries for other ecovillages to apply to local authorities for permission. Diana Leafe Christian visited three ecovillage projects in North America in which ecovillage founders worked closely with local authorities in the site-planning process and requests … Read more
USA From Occupy Village to Opportunity Village Eugene - Pioneering New Solutions for the (Formerly) Homeless
When the city of Eugene broke up the Occupy camp in December of 2011, they promised to give the homeless another piece of land. Dan Bryant, a minister who wears a leather jacket and drives a motorcycle; Jean Stacey, a fiery lesbian advocate for the homeless; and Andy Heben, a young urban designer who wrote his thesis on homeless camps that he visited around the country, went around touting the idea of Opportunity Village. Alex Daniell found out that "If you give a homeless person a home then … Read more
Colombia "With a Hope that Open Roads" Daira Quiñones´ Story of Hope and Perseverance
Daira Elsa Quiñones is a beautiful Afro-Columbian woman who has experienced great bereavement in her life. She is a great singer, a dreamer, and a wave of hope. Margarita O. Zethelius, from CASA, shares her story. In the 5th gathering of Call of the Mountain (the ecovillages gathering of Colombia), Daira came to tell us the story of a dream and a project, and surprised all with her great charisma. She is an ambassador of Afro-Colombian culture, of hope and strength. She brings to the CASA … Read more
USA: From Occupy Village to Opportunity Village Eugene – Pioneering New Solutions for the (Formerly) Homeless
When the city of Eugene broke up the Occupy camp in December of 2011, they promised to give the homeless another piece of land. Dan Bryant, a minister who wears a leather jacket and drives a motorcycle; Jean Stacey, a fiery lesbian advocate for the homeless; and Andy Heben, a young urban designer who wrote his thesis on homeless camps that he visited around the country, went around touting the idea of Opportunity Village. Alex Daniell found out that "If you give a homeless person a home then … Read more
