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

Placeholder image for Foundation for Intentional Community website.
Codicts Team
  • 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.

Comments

Featured Blogs

Keep the conversation going with these pieces

Christopher Roth
Tue Mar 2014
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
The intensity of community living can bring issues of gender, sexual identity, and gender relationships to the fore as nothing else does.
Codicts Team
Thu Mar 2013
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
Chronic illness presents challenges but also gifts of insight to a long-time communitarian.
Codicts Team
Wed Dec 2007
EcoSpace has an article about Tryon Farms and how they are working in Portland to help create more ecologically friendly zoning and building codes. Compost toilets, grey water, cob, eco-villages– these terms are entering mainstream vocabulary more and more. Yet many old-fashioned codes and regulatio…
Codicts Team
Thu Feb 2018
  • New to community
In its formative and early stages, Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing in Seattle encounters both challenges and successes.
Sky Blue
Tue Sep 2019
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
In order to create healthy, thriving communities that are replicable models for a cooperative, sustainable, and just human society, we need to talk about what hasn’t worked.
Codicts Team
Wed Dec 2011
  • Living in community
  • Governance
While expert at understanding ecological connections, permaculturalists often founder in relating with one another. Applying permaculture principles to group dynamics can help us work together more effectively.
Codicts Team
Sun Mar 2010
  • New to community
Easing themselves in and out of each other’s houses, yards, and chicken coops, members of White Hawk Ecovillage find traditional borders becoming more porous.
Codicts Team
Wed Jul 2010
  • New to community
A recent article in Britain’s Independent describes the successes of Lammas Eco-village, Brithdir Mawr and Steward Wood communities in the UK. If reassurance were needed that life in a commune really is a plausible alternative to more conventional ways of existence, remember that for years several o…
Codicts Team
Mon Apr 2017
  • Governance
A new novel by Susan Feathers, called Threshold, explores one community’s response to climate change. Inspired by her experiences with the Building Resilient Neighborhoods program in Tuscon, Arizona, Threshold combines interlocking plot-lines with the latest scientific research to bring the concept …
Codicts Team
Tue Dec 2009
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
At a permaculture-based ecovillage in North Carolina, care for the earth, care for people, and care for inner health all benefit from a dynamic culture based on local self-reliance, holism, and community.

Insights & Stories from the Communities Movement

Subscribe to our newsletter for fresh stories and community updates delivered to your inbox.

Join the Communiversity Community

Get unlimited access to courses, exclusive member events, and a supportive network of community builders

Unlimited Learning

Access all courses, books, and premium content

Community Network

Member-only workshops and community builders

Exclusive Events

Member-only workshops and gatherings

Information

Communities

A residential project: people live here as their primary home.

Organizations

An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).

Plus Community Memberhsip

  • Find people with Profile Match
  • Access to your community listing statistics
  • Create Discussion Groups
  • 50% commission when your members purchase a Plus Membership
  • Access to our affiliate program
  • Member badge on your community profile
I am an official member of this community
Disclaimer
I affirm that my information is accurate and I am authorized to manage this listing
Foundation for Intentional Community FIC Member badge logo.

Free Plan

Free Membership
Free

Intentional Advertising

  • Subtotal

    {{ currencyFormat( pricing_summary.total_amount ) }}

Icon representing community connections and collaboration for intentional communities.

Plus Membership

We’re introducing new Plus features — including community reviews, Profile Match, and unlimited Needs & Offers posts — while keeping most of FIC free for everyone. Membership costs less than two coffees a month. 

  • Find communities with Profile Match
  • View detailed reviews about communities
  • Direct message and view contact information
  • Create free listings in Needs & Offers
  • Plus Member resources in CommUniversity
  • Plus Member badge on your profile