Page 29 - C.A.L.L. #47 - Winter 2020/2021

These communities are experimenting

with greener and fairer ways of living

July 10, 2020
By Kirsten Stevens-Wood

Frankie lives in a six-bedroom house on the outskirts of Leeds. She is her own landlord, but
doesn’t own the house. Instead she is part of a co-operative housing group: together, they
have been able to buy the house and then rent it at an affordable price back to themselves
as tenants.

Just a few miles away, another group has secured funding to design and build an eco-
community of up to 30 households, including what is known as a common house: a shared
house with a kitchen, laundry, workshops, a meeting space, guest rooms and gardens.

Much further away in north-
east Germany is a 37-acre site
where a group of people live
and work together sharing
food, childcare and resources.
They have created a
community where relationships
and the environment are given

primacy.

All three of these are

examples of intentional
communities: groups of people
who have chosen to live
The plans. Chapeltown Cohousing
together in a way that reflects

their shared values. These
communities come in a variety of shapes and forms, from squats and housing co-operatives to
communes and co-housing communities.

Intentional communities are by no means a new idea, but they have often been cited as the
experimental spaces or test beds for the future. They are sometimes considered as utopian
experiments where groups and people strive to create a better life.

Many people are looking for antidotes to ever-increasing consumption and feelings of social
isolation. There is no single solution, and we will need to look at all aspects of our lives, from
the way we consume to day-to-day practices. But for some, the solution is to be found in

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