intentional communities and eco-villages talk at city university of hong kong
TRANSCRIPT
INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES & ECO-VILLAGESBY RIJA MÉNAGÉ
CONTENT
• Introduction
• what is an intentional community
• Interlude
• What is an eco-village
• What is Permaculture
• Interlude
• Sustainable communities across the world
• Interlude
• What is happening in Hong Kong
• What can we do to grow sustainable community in Hong Kong
• Fundraiser Video
• Q&A
INTRODUCTION
• Certified Permaculture Designer
• Working on permaculture designs and teaching in Hong Kong
• Planning eco-villages projects in South East Asia
WHAT IS AN INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY ?
An intentional community is a planned residential community
designed from the start to have a high degree of social cohesion
and teamwork.
The members hold a common vision and share responsibilities
and resources
Non Intentional
Intentional
spiritual
religious
gated community
political
apartments complex
ecological
artistic
inter-generational
university campus
refugee camps survival tribes
street neighbourhood
Traits of successful communities Traits of failing communities
1. Founding member(s) must be skilled in
entrepreneurship, leadership, vision,
physical building
2. Clear, shared vision exists and is
documented
3. Fair and appropriate decision-making
process is used
4. Clear agreements in writings
5. Clear communication, good group
process and conflict resolution is sought
6. Careful selection of members
7. Community is seen at the same time as
business and marriage
8. Will to adapt and to learn new skills
9. Realistic expectations and management
of finances
10. Patience, tenacity, gratitude and
acknowledgment, good communication
1. Unclear vision or understood differently
by members
2. No due diligence on budget, finance
and legal matters
3. Not proactive at resolving conflicts
4. Misunderstanding of consensus
decision-making
5. Missing processes for accepting and
rejecting members
6. Missing processes for running
meetings and taking decisions
INTERLUDE
WHAT IS AN ECO-VILLAGE?
human-scale full-featured settlement in which
human activities are harmlessly integrated into
the natural world in a way that is supportive of
healthy human development, and can be
successfully continued into the indefinite
future.
(Robert Gilman, 1991)
intentional community where the shared vision
is the pursuit of ecological, economical and
social sustainability
…and has multiple centres of initiative (Robert
Gilman, 1999)
WHAT IS PERMACULTURE ?
An approach to designing human settlements and agricultural
systems that are modelled on the relationships found in
natural ecology
Permaculture is governed by three ethics:
Care for the Earth, Care for the People, Share the surplus
A catalogue of principles provides guidelines to a permaculture
design
“Work with nature
rather than against it”
“Take responsibility for our
own existence
and of our children.
make it now”
“Focus on building
the new rather than
fighting the old”
Eco-village
PermacultureIntentional
Community
Village
INTERLUDE
ECO-VILLAGES ACROSS THE WORLD
dancing rabbit
findhorn
panya, pun pun
DANCING RABBIT
location Missouri, USA
ecoregion Mississippi Valley Loess Plains
land area 300 ha
population 60
Creation date 1997
FINDHORN
location Moray, Scotland
ecoregion Caledonian Forest
land area 30 acres
population 200 (450)
Creation date 1962
PANYA PROJECT
location Chiang Mai, Thailand
ecoregion Central Indochina dry forests
land area 4 hectares
population 10
Creation date 2002
PUN PUN
location Chiang Mai, Thailand
ecoregion Central Indochina dry forests
land area 4 hectares
population 7
Creation date 2003
INTERLUDE
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN HK (1)
intentional
communitypermaculture village
Mapopo Farms
CommunityYes Partial Yes
Ark Eden No Yes One home
Perma Club No Yes No
WHAT CAN WE DO TO GROW SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES IN HK
• education
• more people to the farm more often
• start Transition initiatives
Q&A
–Mahtma Gandhi
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”