The Variety of Communal Living Around the World
At no time in history have so many people lived communally and never has there been such a variety of forms of communal living. The following is an attempt to clarify the major forms of such communities.
The classic, more extreme form of communal living is the commune. There is no authoritative definition of the term. One dictionary gives the following: "A relatively small, often rural, community whose members share common interests, work and income and often own property collectively".
Internationally recognized researcher of the history of communes and kibbutz member, Prof. Yaacov Oved, defined the term as "an autonomous community whose members have agreed, by free choice, to live a life of sharing by the principle 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need". Press here for a fuller discussion of the term commune.
The 55th birthday cake of the New Zealand commune, Riverside (with thanks to Chris Palmer)
Kibbutz is the unique Israeli form of commune, born out of the special conditions of the country's rebirth. Press here for a comparison between kibbutz and other communes. For information about kibbutzim, press here.
Intentional Community is an inclusive term covering communes, eco-villages, co-housing, residential land trusts, student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives and other related projects and dreams. The Fellowship for Intentional Community website www.ic.org is packed full of information. For a detailed explanation, press here.
An eco-village is an urban or rural community whose members try to provide a high quality lifestyle without taking more from the Earth than they give back. Eco-villages attempt to integrate a supportive social environment with a low-impact way of life. To achieve these aims, eco-villages typically build on various combinations of three dimensions: community, ecology and spirituality. Eco-villages are communities in which people feel supported by and responsible to those around them. They are small enough that everyone feels empowered, seen and heard. For more information, look up http://gen.ecovillage.org/
Co-housing is the name of a type of collaborative housing that attempts to overcome the alienation of modern subdivisions in which no-one knows their neighbors, and there is no sense of community. It is characterized by private dwellings with their own kitchen, living-dining room etc, but also with extensive common facilities. Usually, co-housing communities are designed and managed by the residents themselves. The typical co-housing community has 20 to 30 single-family homes along a pedestrian street or clustered around a courtyard. Residents often have several optional group meals in the common building each week. See http://www.cohousing.org/what_is_cohousing to learn more about co-housing.
A housing co-operative looks like any other townhouse complex or apartment building. The difference is that each one is both a business and a community, jointly owned by the people who live there. Membership means: shared responsibility, not-for-profit housing, democratic control, open membership (to people of different cultures, ages and incomes) and community living, offering the safety and security of small village life in the midst of cities and towns. Co-ops are usually family-oriented, mixed-income communities. See http://www.ica.coop/al-housing/ for more information.
Co-operative housing scenes from the website of the International Co-operation Alliance (with thanks)
City-wide and Regional Communal Projects. In various corners of the earth, large scale communities have sprouted with foundations of cooperation and mutual social responsibility, to a degree hitherto unknown. The most prominent of these are: the town of Auroville in India, the social and ecological rehabilitation of Whyalla in South Australia, and the creation of the ecological city of Arcosanti in the Arizona desert.
Economic Communality. Here and there around the world, regions and townships are organizing to free themselves from the shackles of the global economy and to create an economic community of their own. These are run by the rules of the capitalist market place, but with foundations of communal solidarity and less alienation and competition. The classic example of this is the city of Ithaca in New York State.
Virtual Communities. Already a new kind of communality is sprouting, based not on territory, but on the world wide electronic web. Presumably, a bright future lies ahead for this interesting development.
The Number of Communal Groups in the World
The exact number of communes and other communal groups is not known. Many such communities prefer not to publicize themselves. The following are minimal estimates of the numbers of communal groups, derived from several authoritative sources. Various experts suggest much higher numbers. One knowledgeable estimate is 12,000!
North America 2500
Great Britain 150
Europe (Remainder) 200
Japan 250
Australia/New Zealand 200
-------------------------------------------------
Total (not including India and South America) 3300
Bibliography
The vast number of books, publications and articles about communes, intentional communities and communal living in general, reflects the wide-ranging interest in the subject. For example, Communities Directory 2010, brought out by the FIC, has over 1000 book entries on communal living! Accordingly, we have had to limit ourselves only to those which are somehow connected with this site. Disappointed browser, please accept our sincere apologies. As compensation, try the FIC website: www.ic.org/resources/.
In Israel, many of the publications on the subject are available at the library of Yad Tabenkin at Seminar Efal, the staff of which is always ready to be of assistance. Alternative sources are the libraries of Givat Chaviva and of the University of Haifa (with its Institute for Research on the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea).
Communities Directory - A Guide to Intentional Communities and Communal Living - 2000, 2005, 2010 Editions, Fellowship for Intentional Community, RR 1 Box 156-W, Rutledge, Missouri 63563-9720, USA, 2000. http://directory.ic.org/
Diggers and Dreamers - 2000-2001, 2004-5, Diggers and Dreamers Publications, London, 1999, http://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk
Eurotopia - Directory of Intentional Communities and Eco-villages in Europe, German, English editions, www.eurotopia.de/englindex.html.
Metcalf, Bill, editor, From Utopian Dreaming to Communal Reality: Cooperative Lifestyles in Australia, University of NSW Press, 1995. Shared Visions, Shared Lives: Communal Living Around the Globe, Findhorn Press, 1996. Oved, Yaacov, Two Hundred Years of American Communes, Transaction Books, 1988, 2nd ed. 1992. Distant Brothers: History of the Relations between the Bruderhof and the Kibbutz, Yad Tabenkin, 1993. The Witness of the Brothers: New Brunswick Transaction Publishers, 1996.
Tyldesley, Michael, No Heavenly Delusion? - A Comparative Study of Three Communal Movements, Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Shenker, Barry, Intentional Communities - Ideology and Alienation in Communal Living, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1986.
Communities Magazine, Fellowship for Intentional Community, Rutledge, Missouri, 2000.
Intentional Communities Forums & Encyclopedia
This is a lively vehicle for the exchange of information and ideas about communal living. It contains items on matters big and small, from principle issues to minor but practical details.. A readily accessable archives section is available. The slogan of the forum is "Community Is About Communication". You can join it through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
A mine of information, available through the Intentional Communities forum is the Intentional Communities Encyclopedia, consisting of 2 pdf volumes, meticulously compiled by Ralf Gering, each of which is extensively sub-classified. Only communities with more than 100 residents are included, with a brief summary of each. The lists are updated regularly by the indefatigable Ralf, the latest in 2012. Volume 1 - Religions Communities (Christian, Jewish, Islamic and others) -. Includes 176 umbrella organizations and Networks, 3274 communities comprising of a total of 406,825 men and women. Volume 2 - Secular Communities - 138 umbrella organizations and networks of non-religious intentional communities, representing more than 712 individual communities worldwide. These include about 89,965 people living together. The grand total: Some 314 umbrella organizations and networks, about 3,986 individual communities and some half a million people living together.