Community Profile
Life in De Kersentuin: Research in a Dutch cohousing community
Posted on June 10, 2019 byStudent researcher from the University of Amsterdam, Yannick Kiesel, shares the core findings of his Masters Thesis on life in a cohousing community. The research illustrates a new holistic view on cohousing and its complexities. Thanks for sharing Yannick! My research focused on the sustainable and pro-social communities that tackle the adverse effects of growing… Read More
Road Update #3 – Planet Community Midwest Tour
Posted on September 29, 2018 byPlanet Community Midwest Tour Update #3 from the Filmmakers Here is another report from the road from filmmakers Aaron Murphy and Rae Machado of Skillly Media on their journey to film Planet Community! September 27. Last week we had a great time in Ann Arbor getting to know some of the student members of the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University… Read More
Road Update #2 – Planet Community Midwest Tour
Posted on September 26, 2018 byPlanet Community Midwest Tour Personal Update #2 from the Road The following are reports from the road provided by filmmakers Aaron Murphy and Rae Machado of Skillly Media as they film the first season of Planet Community! September 15 Our trip to the University of Michigan was a quick 20 minute drive from the trifecta cohousing communities… Read More
Road Update #1 – Planet Community Midwest Tour
Posted on September 24, 2018 by1 Comment
Planet Community Midwest Tour A Personal Update from the Road The following content and images were provided by filmmakers Aaron Murphy and Rae Machado of Skillly Media while on their quest to film Planet Community! September 1 We left our home at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Rutledge, Missouri and arrived at Black Oaks Center for Sustainable… Read More
Planet Community – Episode 1: Dancing Rabbit
Posted on September 17, 2018 byEnjoy the very first episode of Planet Community! This episode is focused on Dancing Rabbit, in Rutledge, Missouri, which you can learn more about here: https://www.ic.org/directory/dancing-rabbit-ecovillage/ Read more about the series, and contribute to the tour, here: https://www.ic.org/planet-community/
Arizona Ecovillages in the News
Posted on August 6, 2018 by2 Comments
“If life is about something, it’s about getting along with people.” Don Clark reports from his Arizona ecovillage. “Since last year, the volume of people inquiring has doubled,” “A lot of people are saying they don’t like what’s going on, so they’re looking for alternatives.” Check out this news article covering intentional communities as… Read More
Visit Or Volunteer at the Sustainable Kashi Ashram
Posted on March 23, 2017 byMidway between Miami and Orlando, the Sustainable Kashi Ashram is an interfaith intentional community that combines yoga, meditation, and permaculture projects on 80 acres land on the eastern coast of Florida. Founded in 1976, the community’s teachings are based on Hindu philosophy, but participants of any religion – or none – are welcome to visit and… Read More
Bridge Meadows Brings Foster Children Into Intentional Community
Posted on January 12, 2017 by1 Comment
For many intentional communities and cohousing projects, being “intergenerational” is a core value and long-term goal. Parents envision themselves raising children with the support of other community members. Elderly residents want to share meals and social activities in their old age. But for some families – such as foster children and their adoptive parents –… Read More
The Untold Story of Utopian Communes In America
Posted on November 24, 2016 byIt was a time of great change and social experimentation. Groups of like-minded people pooled their money to buy property in what one writer called a kind of “socialist land mania.” Another philosopher said that it was impossible to find a well-read man without “a draft of a new community in his waistcoat pocket.“ Residents from these communities traveled… Read More
The Damanhur Community In Italy Has Its Own Currency and Constitution
Posted on November 21, 2016 byThe community of Damanhur in northern Italy is known for the Temples of Humankind, a 5-story series of underground chambers built by residents of the community as a spiritual gathering place. Begun in 1978, they were discovered by authorities in the 1990s, and nearly shut down. Now, they’re open to the public and have become… Read More
Arcosanti Combines Architecture and Ecology in The Arizona Desert
Posted on November 17, 2016 byAbout 70 miles north of Phoenix, high in the Arizona desert, a blocky, concrete series of buildings rises out of the hillside. It looks like a cross between a futuristic museum and a desert village on Tatooine. But this isn’t your typical example of post-modernism. It’s an experiment in “arcology,” a style of design that… Read More
This Women-Only Village In Kenya Is Challenging Traditional Gender Roles
Posted on September 22, 2016 byFor over 20 years, a small community in Kenya has been embarking on a rare experiment: a community without men, where women are the homeowners and breadwinners. Around 50 women and 200 children live in Umoja, a small village several hundred miles north of Nairobi, in the dry grasslands of the Samburu region. According to… Read More
This Eco-Community in Peru is Known for Its Cone-Shaped Structures
Posted on September 12, 2016 byJust over an hour north of Lima, Peru, a circle of cone-shaped buildings rises beside a sandy beach. These structures are called “trulys,” and they’re part of a spiritual eco-village built by Hare Krishnas on the Peruvian coast. The village is a popular stopping place for travelers looking for a peaceful, meditative retreat in rural… Read More
At This Hawaiian Eco-Community, You Can Stay In A Bamboo Hut In A Volcanic Crater
Posted on August 29, 2016 byA few weeks ago – as the prospect of spending another winter here in rainy Portland began to dawn on me – I started looking into some travel opportunities in warmer climates. One of my goals as a blogger is to get to visit some of the intentional communities that I write about – and… Read More
KCET Visits the LA Eco-Village for A Look At Sustainable Urban Living
Posted on August 22, 2016 byWhen you hear about life in Los Angeles, you probably think about traffic, smog, and sprawling suburbs. But LA has a thriving network of intentional communities, many of which exist just under the radar of activity in neighborhoods like Silverlake, Mar Vista, and Koreatown. I spent several years living in the city and got to… Read More
This Alaska Community Took Its Own Approach To Treating Mental Illness
Posted on August 15, 2016 by1 Comment
The philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” It’s a quote often repeated by alternative healers and counter-cultural thinkers. In the 1980s, four families from Boston – who suffered from depression, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses – put that philosophy to the… Read More
A New Movement Is Rethinking Our Relationship With The Earth
Posted on July 18, 2016 byLast month, I had the chance to visit the Windward Education and Research Center, an intentional community in rural Washington, for an event called the EcoSex Convergence. Over 5 days, 150 participants explored topics related to environmentalism, spirituality, sexuality, and more. The event’s guests of honor were Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, who combine academic… Read More
This 1800s Commune Tried Free Love and Income-Sharing Long Before It Was A Thing
Posted on July 11, 2016 byMany of the intentional communities that we hear about are recent ones: the back-to-the-land communes of the 1970s, the student co-ops and cohousing spaces being formed today. That’s why it’s especially fascinating to get a glimpse into a commune from a different era – as I did recently in a book called “Oneida: From Free… Read More
European Projects Explore Cohousing for LGBT Elders
Posted on May 2, 2016 byOver the past year, a U.K. group called Tonic Housing has been exploring ways to offer safe, affordable housing to older members of the LGBT community. Supported by several charitable foundations, Tonic hopes to build a housing complex called Tonic Centre in or near London: “There is currently no LGBT-specific housing for older people in the… Read More
Three Tucson Communities Open Their Doors For National Cohousing Day
Posted on April 18, 2016 byNational Cohousing Open House Day is coming up in just over a week, and dozens of communities will be welcoming guests for tours and other free activities. You can check out the map at Cohousing.org to find a community near you. Please RSVP to the Facebook event and invite your friends so we can get… Read More
Life in an urban eco-village
Posted on March 23, 2016 byHi, I’m Saul, the new Social Media Manager here at FIC. I’m excited to join the team from my home at Foster Village, an urban eco-community in Southeast Portland, OR! If you have any feedback or suggestions for a future blog post, you can reach me via e-mail or on Twitter. Living in an urban… Read More
Rough Start to Rural Community
Posted on May 28, 2015 byRough Start to Rural Community Christian and Johannes Zinzendorf call themselves Harmonists, with central beliefs around the value of hard work in an agrarian life, and a communion with the spirits in nature. They make their own clothes from fabrics that they grow and spin from flax. They grow and harvest grains, care for a… Read More
Best Friends Build Tiny House Village
Posted on May 26, 2015 byBest Friends Build Tiny House Village Living in the same town was not enough for four couples who have been best friends for 20 years. They decided to double down on their relationship and buy a little bit of land “in the middle of nowhere” on the Llano River in the Hill Country of Texas.… Read More
Who Defines a Family?
Posted on April 13, 2015 by1 Comment
Who Defines a Family? “Love makes us a Family.” The Scarborough Street mansion is home to 8 adults who live together by choice in a small community. Their local zoning laws however forbid so many unrelated adults living together, causing the city of Hartford to tell them they must move out. “This issue of the… Read More
How to Thrive on 10%
Posted on March 13, 2015 byHow to Thrive on 10% It is often taken for granted that the United States consumes and wastes 5 times more than the rest of the planet. At the same time it is well known and highly advised that dramatic reductions in carbon pollution is needed to address climate change. We also know that having… Read More
Southern Exposure Seed Cooperative Nurtures Community Gardeners
Posted on March 1, 2015 bySouthern Exposure Seed Cooperative Nurtures Community Gardeners Acorn Community Farm is an intentional community a few miles from Twin Oaks in Mineral, Virginia. It was founded in 1993 as an egalitarian, secular, anarchist community that gets things done through clear communication and a sense of shared responsibility. They were recently featured in a Washington Post… Read More
Why should you care about Intentional Communities?
Posted on February 9, 2015 byWhy should you care about Intentional Communities? FIC Board Member Sky Blue reviews the successful systems and culture Twin Oaks has built to allow it to thrive. “Twin Oaks Community has been my home off and on for the last 15 years. It’s one of the flagships of the Intentional Communities movement, and yet is… Read More
