sustainable intentional communities for the coming times

Posted by Lester Germanio on May 10, 2008 at 1:27pm in Sustainable Community Development

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I am working on a near sustainable urban homestead in Austin, Texas as a prototype unit of a sustainable intentional community. I just got an invite to join this site. I look forward to a discussion of this with any who are interested in the subject.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Herder on May 10, 2008 at 1:39pm: Hello Lester, would you care to share any of the specifics? It is it a single dwelling or a cluster?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lester Germanio on May 10, 2008 at 2:02pm: The initial part of the project (the prototype under construction) is a near sustainable functional off grid homestead designed for an occupant load of 8 people. The in excess to sustainable community (in the planning stage - no land yet) is projected to be 50 clustered homesteads for an occupant load of 400.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by K. Malhotra on May 10, 2008 at 1:51pm: Are you using a particular model/framework? I would be interested to learn about your approach. We are using one here for Antigonish, NS (Canada) which has allowed us to have a fair number of businesses/organizations working together through a one year charter as a "pilot" to move towards a sustainable future. Please see link on the group intro.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lester Germanio on May 10, 2008 at 2:28pm: The homesteads would be independently owned. The owners of the homesteads would share ownership in a community building/town square, farmland, wood lot, and minimal other infrastructure. The current thinking is private sharecropping of the farmland and leasing parcels of community land for agricultural related, light manufacturing and service businesses. The structure would be similar to a condo association with a golf course commons area. The "condos" would be the 50 two acre homesteads and the 300 acre commons "golf course" would consist of 200 acres of family sized farms and 100 acres of wood lot/forest gardens/pecan grooves. More toward the flavor of a small town than a commune. Purposely set up this way to allow people of limited means to start farming without the major expense of buying land. The target market group would be the urban back to landers as the urban/rural population distribution corrects for the end of cheap energy.; ▶ Reply to This