Many of us have dreamed of living in community but have struggled to know where to start. You can read all the books out there and still flounder. Having both explored the possibilities of starting a community we feared that we were repeating the same mistakes others had already made. Despite a long tradition of … Continue reading Building community and learning from failure
Blog posts
Review of book ‘Eco-Homes’
Eco-Homes: People, Place and Politics by Jenny Pickerill (Zed Books, 2016, ISBN: 9781780325309) Jenny Pickerill is a Professor in Environmental Geography at the University of Sheffield, England. She is particularly interested in inspiring grassroots solutions to environmental problems; in this case, sustainable ecohousing. The book is written in such a way as to appeal to academics and practitioners in the field of eco-housing, as well … Continue reading Review of book ‘Eco-Homes’
10 Tips for Building Together
Increasing numbers of people are interested in developing community self build projects around the world. In the UK inspirational projects include LILAC (Leeds), Hockerton Housing Project (Nottinghamshire), Springhill Co-Housing (Stroud), Hedgehog (Brighton) and Lancaster Co-Housing (Lancaster). These ground breaking projects are sites of learning and knowledge sharing: about ecological building practices, challenging market models, collaborative … Continue reading 10 Tips for Building Together
Learning from eco-villages
Rhubarb-chopping at Findhorn ecovillage All too often eco-villages are romanticised and celebrated, rather than analysed and critiqued. Their limitations, failings and contradictions are well known to their members, but even academics like Karen Litfin [1] present a rosy picture of alternative harmony. It was refreshing, then, to read Leslie Barson’s experiences at Sieben Linden (PN2576–2577) … Continue reading Learning from eco-villages
Review of book ‘Eco-Homes’: Home, sweet eco-home, Hallam Girardet enjoys an expert analysis of green housing
Eco-Homes: People, Place and Politics by Jenny Pickerill (Zed Books, 2016, ISBN: 9781780325309) Jenny Pickerill is a professor of environmental geography at the University of Sheffield, and her new book is an all-encompassing text-book-style study of eco-homes. Pickerill describes the book as “unashamedly academic” and “based on years of empirical fieldwork”. However, this is not to say it is dry and dull: overall Pickerill manages to … Continue reading Review of book ‘Eco-Homes’: Home, sweet eco-home, Hallam Girardet enjoys an expert analysis of green housing
ECO-HOMES + COMMUNITIES 