Urban ecovillage?

What are your thoughts on an urban ecovillage in a non-thriving city.  My youngest son has petty much always lived communally in Minneapolis, often urban foraging (aka dumpster and garbage diving) and growing food/ raising chickens in that setting.  Everyone had jobs and sometimes it worked, other times not as much.  What I am specifically considering is that we own 4 houses in Youngstown, Ohio.  My husband and I live in one with my elderly mother next door.  My son and his little family live about 5 blocks away and we now own and are fixing the house behind him.  They have a nice garden between the two houses and we have a large 3 city lot Permaculture garden plus greenhouse behind ours.   This current situation works well for us and we all share the load.  We have tried to just rent the 4th house to friends or old neighbors and have had pretty woeful results.  I think we need to think of this more as an ecovillage and eventually try to recruit someone who wants to be a part of the whole.  What other things do we need to consider?  

And in a new turn of events just today, a friend who has an urban garden/ greenhouse/ orchard is no longer healthy enough to care for it.  It is a house ( that probably needs tons of work) and adjacent lots that have been tremendously amended because he has the gift of facebook pleas for community help and gofundme pleas for capital.  Its not the way we roll over here on the other side of Market street, but it is what it is.  It has not been run using Permaculture techniques at all, but he has had tons of organic material trucked in to amend the city clay.  The people I spoke with today said he is trying to get an RV and get closer to family and let this all go for a song (I mean, he told them $1500...which if anyone actually only gives this lovely man that, I might have to hunt you down) to the right person who would care for it.  If someone does take it over, you become a part of this little disjointed ecovillage we got going on here automatically.  

I will give the advice I always give to people seeking to form community:  Please read Creating a Life Together by Diana Leafe Christian.  It discusses why most intentional communities fail and how to avoid the pitfalls.

As my little private road gets more and more houses built and more are up for sale, I'm always trying to find more permie-minded people to move in. I post here on permies about properties for sale, and I post on my local homesteading group. So far, I haven't had any luck in getting specific people to move in, though we have lucked out in that two families moved in that are both homesteader-y types.

While I can't seem to convince certain people to move in, I try to build community with all of my neighbors. My kids and I go for walks. We chat with neighbors. We share plants and growing tips with them. We bring new neighbors a dozen duck eggs. We try to help out if we see a need.

I may not be able to make an official "ecovillage," but I can sure try to make my little neighborhood more like a village and a community, one walk at a time.

Nicole Alderman wrote: I try to build community with all of my neighbors. My kids and I go for walks. We chat with neighbors. We share plants and growing tips with them. We bring new neighbors a dozen duck eggs. We try to help out if we see a need.

I may not be able to make an official "ecovillage," but I can sure try to make my little neighborhood more like a village and a community, one walk at a time.

This is so important.  Even though my husband and I are not social people, we have been able to start building community with neighbors by daily walks with the dog.  Dogs are excellent ice-breakers.