My partner and I have often talked about ecovillages and other intentional communities (at the present time, we're still living with our parents). It would be a lot more approachable for us than anything else, since we won't be able to get a
mortgage and buy
land ourselves, independently. We hope to live in a wooden cabin or earthbag /
straw bale house, depending on what would most suit the environment.
However, every kind of
intentional community made us realise the same: Frankly, we don't want to share our living space. We want a separate home. Autonomy and privacy are too precious to us. In the future we would love to get child(ren) together, and within the walls of our own home, we just want to live like any normal family - no communal meals and other ritual practices. Now you may wonder, what remains? Then why think of an intentional community? Well, the thing is, we do want to share something. There is a collective interest, which is economical. We can't imagine that there aren't other people that don't want to share a household... It doesn't mean that one doesn't want to get along with the others, but compare it to a conventional neighbourhood: People still talk with each other, can even visit each other's house or be friends, but they have a completely individual household. Well, that's what we want too.
The sense of community would be represented by the conjoint work we commit ourselves to. That's essentially the difference, along with concern for ecological integrity.
Basically, there are two options.
Option 1: Living on the land of others, if possible build our own home, and do work in exchange to live on that land. We (my partner and I) would have a submissive position.
Option 2: Living on a land with no hierarchy. We would share it with others while all having the same rights. Each household would be a separate building. The practices / work / maintenance on that land would have a communal purpose, while also providing self-sufficiency. One example is a communal
yard to grow food (more households means more help, so you can do this on a bigger scale). I imagine that something like this can be a reality when you buy land with a group of people. Depending on the sum of money, this may be a future opportunity for us. Of
course, we would have to discuss details thoroughly with the other participants (and write a contract together) in order to bring such idea into practice.
So, I was wondering, is there a specific term for either option 1 or 2? I wonder about your thoughts, is it realistic, does it have potential?
Thank you for reading this
thread!
