Urban Ecovillages
Description
"As far as anyone can tell, the urban variation on the ecovillage started in 1993, with the founding of the Los Angeles community. Nearly twenty years later it's hard to pinpoint exactly how many of these communities exist. The directory of the Global Ecovillage Network lists 111 ecovillages in the United States, of which only a handful are located in cities. But that directory doesn't list Columbia Ecovillage and still includes Ecovillage Detroit, which has been disbanded for years now. Another directory, the Fellowship for Intentional Community, counts ecovillages among 1,667 intentional communities in the United States, which include communes, cohousing developments and artist collectives.
All of these groups share resources — from space to food to household supplies — and some engage in environmental practices such as composting and growing their own food. Only ecovillages have a stated environmental purpose, however, and reach out beyond the group to spread their environmental message. They seek, as Robert Gilman, one of the movement's prominent figures, put it back in 1991, to offer a "full-featured settlement in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development..." Gilman's vague definition has since become the one ecovillagers rely on to explain what their communities are all about. " (http://www.shoeleathermagazine.com/2010/craig.shtml)
More Information
- Detailed descripionof Los Angeles urban ecovillage, http://www.shoeleathermagazine.com/2010/craig.shtml
- Ecovillages