Owenstown, a large-scale eco-village, is proposed in rural Scotland

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Molly
  • September 2, 2009

An article by Helen McArdle in Scotland’s Sunday Herald describes plans for Owenstown, the first new town founded in Scotland for several decades. The community, based on cooperative principles, is named for Robert Owen, a visionary 19th century socialist who established the New Lanark Community in Scotland and New Harmony in the United States.

Dubbed a “model village for the 21st century”, Owenstown is the first attempt by the Scottish charity, the Hometown Foundation, to set up a sustainable community built on the twin pillars of cooperative governance and ecological sensitivity.

The 2000-acre greenfield site purchased by Robert Durward, one of the foundation’s four trustees, is expected eventually to support an “optimum” population of around 20,000, generating some 8000 jobs as it grows.

Read the full article here.

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