Social aspects of natural building communities

I think that what you're doing with the natural building is awesome.

It can be cheap, sustainable, low cost and fun.

I think the biggest drawback is the social aspects.

You can get cheap land and build your house in the middle of nowhere. Cheap house but bored.  

You can try to do that in a town but then you have regulations, higher cost, and you often can't get clay as cheaply.

Have you heard of movements to try to site a couple of cool towns near each other?

Near a smaller college town could work.

I live in the PNW and there is a lot of groove going on but there is also very expensive housing in cities like Portland and Seattle.

If people could have another natural building communiity a few miles away by bike or griesel bus they could have a better social life, play music, adventures, etc.  

Have you two heard of people trying to organize natural building communities for better social interaction?
Thanks,
John S
PDX OR

When I saw the name of the thread the content was totally not the way my mind went. I typically see people building natural homes with people (socially). And it's kind of a drawback for me, as I'm not a people person.

I guess we know who's in the introvert and who's the extrovert.

"Eco-villages" often use a lot of natural buildings.  

http://www.imaginationhealer.com/permaculture-villages-network.html

Dancing Rabbit is probably one of the most famous.  However, there are at least a couple of them in Oregon,.
Lost Valley Educational Center https://lostvalley.org/ is one of the largest on the west coast.

In Portland there is http://www.kailashecovillage.org/ but they look like they use conventional (modern) buildings.

Note: the ones list above are primarily designed around education, but there are lots of other ones scattered about that just places where people gather to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Our host's "Ant Village" for example.

That's a great site, Peter!  THere is another village in Washington State in the East part of the Gorge, sort of near Klickitat.

I think it's helpful if people want to start that kind of natural building to know if there are other fun/cool people around to hang out with and do stuff with.

John S
PDX OR

Stacy,
I agree that the building can be social, but afterwards, what? TO do it cheaply, sustainably, and simply, it kind of has to be in a fairly remote location.  Designing it for social interaction can solve that problem.  I like introverts, I'm married to one, but most people want social interaction.
John S
PDX OR

John - I totally get it. I was just amused at how different our perceptions were. Communities magazine is a good place to find, well, community. Some are eco-villages, some are in more urban areas. But it's an interesting magazine even if you never join one.