A former architect, Robin was the founder and Development Coordinator of Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood, an award-winning cohousing development of 32 homes and common facilities in suburban Auckland, New Zealand, committed to environmentally sustainable design with intensive community involvement.
Robin now writes, teaches and consults to inspire and support thriving connected communities. Her seminars, lectures and workshops on community-led housing development, governance, eco-building, and sustainable urban design have been a catalyst of the growing cohousing and community-led housing movement in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Robin is a committee member of THIS, The Housing Innovation Society in Aotearoa NZ, and a director of Walk to Work Eco-Developments Ltd, planning an eco-friendly social-enterprise business hub at the front of the Earthsong land.
Her book Cohousing for Life is a handbook for cohousing, describing the key elements and structures that allowed a diverse group to create a large, innovative housing development, interspersed with her personal story of the collective endeavour of developing Earthsong.
E-book available from https://www.ic.org/community-bookstore/product/cohousing-for-life/
The hard copy can be ordered from the GEN bookstore https://ecovillage.org/product/book-cohousing-for-life/ or directly from her website at https://robinallison.co.nz/
Primary interests: architecture and building, community relationships, education
Site content by Robin Allison
Ecovillages
Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood
Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood was founded in 1995 with the following vision statement: Our vision is to establish a cohousing neighbourhood based on the principles of permaculture, that will serve as a model of a socially and environmentally sustainable community. We continue to implement the aims included in our vision statement: Design and construct a cohesive neighbourhood whose layout, buildings and services demonstrate the highest practical standards of sustainable human settlement … Read more
