The more eco-houses I visit and the more people ask me which were the best houses and which makes inspired me most, the more I realise it is the people who inspire me, not the houses. It is the way people have approached a build, navigated the problems, had the confidence and passion to try something new out which is the amazing part. In the main we know how to build good eco-houses – the same mantra has been repeated to me many times now; passive solar, natural local materials, self-build and volunteer labour, keep it small and simple, ventilate as well as insulate and make it a thing of beauty. For some this takes 2 years other’s 8, but most have built along these similar and good principles. What is different is how they have achieved this and in what circumstances – in rural Argentina by themselves, in a newly emerging community in southern Spain, or in central Los Angeles. Each has to overcome different problems – financial, social, collective, regulatory, neighbours, weather and bad luck – and it is in how they do this and still complete their build that I find most inspiring.

Jenny Pickerill with her hosts who are building an adobe house in San Francisco Del Monte De Oro, San Luis Province, Argentina and Delfine building a wooden zome at La ecoaldea del Michal, Molvizar, Spain

A great deal of thought, love, passion and energy gets put into each of these buildings and the more I look at them the more all I see are the faces of the people who have created them. At each visit I have tried to photograph the builders and their images now loom large to me, before the house itself. This is before you even begin to consider the act of living in the house, which is often a transformative process in itself where bits which did not quite work get changed, initial imagined layouts altered and, of course, the people themselves often taking on a more ecological way of life now that they have created the setting and shelter to live how they wanted. Neither do any of these houses or people stand still – all continue to evolve, motivated by the confidence of a finished build that they can improve or do more, or simply that they are the energetic sort who will always be moving forward in life.

Alix Henry, architect and self-builder, outside her Earthship at the Greater World Earthship Community in New Mexico,  and Kelly Hart, my guide around eco-houses at Crestone, and builder Steve Kornher using his flying concrete method, USA

So what did I learn today on my visit to Peninsular Park Commons, a co-housing development in the north of Portland, Oregon? The houses were funky, with lots of eco-features, but more importantly they make great ice-cream, the pot-luck dinner included wheat-free peach cobbler, the blue grass music in the garden was a wonderful celtic mixture and the people were all welcoming and warm and interesting. I spent ten minutes looking around the houses and three hours enjoying the company of the people.

Amy at her Earth House in Pai, Mae Hong Son, Thailand, and Open Day at Peninsula Park Common co-housing project in Portland, Oregon, USA

So I would like to thank all the people who have made my trips and research so productive and such fun, especially those who have taken the time to drive me to places, talk to and explain things to me, and so often allow me to stay in their homes. It is the people who have made these houses wonderful. It is the people and the social aspects of eco-housing which deserve further study.

[Portland, Oregon, 21st August 2010]