Top 11 Lessons from 6 years of ecovillage research

I am celebrating 6 years as an ecovillage researcher. Here are the top 11 lessons from my work

1. Village building is getting major updates. This is partially why I am so excited for the village building movement. Modern village design is in revival and we have more tools than ever before to build successful eco-communities.

We have pioneers like GEN - Global Ecovillage Network and Foundation for Intentional Community to thank for it, with newer initiatives like Regen Tribe , re:build Gathering , ReGen Villages , Ecovilla , New Earth Development , Ecoversity , and RegenEarth Studio taking it to the next level.

2. Traditionally, it takes about 10 years for an intentional community to establish and mature. This is the average length of time it takes for a community to form, acquire land, build, start living there, and establish a thriving economic and operations model.

You even hear smart village projects like Future Thinkers talk candidly that they expect the process of building their village to take 10 years.

And they already have some infrastructure onsite.

This is accelerating and changing with the tech and the amount of knowledge we have available to us about village building.

Still, be prepared to have the stamina for a decade of effort if you want to start a regenerative village project.

3. "Build it and they will come" is not the mindset. I can't tell you how many vision holders I've seen that went out and bought land, worked with some architects, and are unsuccessfully trying to get people to buy lots to fund their not-yet-existing community.

People want to be part of the community building process.

Without community-led development strategies, the project is just a lifestyle real estate development.

You are very likely to struggle if you try to build community alone. When consulting projects, I typically recommend the people-first route.

People = pooled capital, pooled talent, and motivation to keep going.

4. We are doing great at cultivating biodiversity in these land projects, but not social diversity. The village movement is still vanilla.

However, I get contacted often about new projects popping up in Africa and South America that are led by locals.

You could argue that indigenous tribes have always lived in ecovillages, and that is true. These communities are typically (and not always by choice) low-tech and rustic, and therefore sustainable by default.

What I am seeing people champion now in these countries is intentional sustainability and modern comfort.

For most other projects, there is the threat of eco-gentrification.

Obvious truth: a sustainable lifestyle should not be a privilege available to only a few.

5. The #1 need village builders express is finding capable, aligned community members. Keep this in mind if you are dreaming of community, but you don't think that there is one out there for you.

I can name several communities that want people who are ready to come live there and are willing to hold the torch.

I've even seen people offering others to come build houses on their property for free, just to create community with them.

People are craving people, but good community members are hard to find. Become a good community member by taking these courses.

For village builders, community recruitment strategies are gold. I'll be sharing those in future articles.

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