Follow ilonka's journey along ecovillages and sustainable communities
During my travels many of you asked about the place where I used to live in the Netherlands so I decided to write a blogpost about my home community. For three and a half years I lived in Delft, close to Rotterdam, in the living association ‘De Oude Nieuwelaan’. Commonly called the Nieuwelaan, this is … Continue reading Home at the Nieuwelaan
On my journey through Sweden I was able to make a short visit to Solbyn ecovillage just outside of Lund. Solbyn is Sweden’s second oldest ecovillage and was for a long time it’s largest. The ecovillage, completed in 1988, houses ecological apartments for fifty households in the beautiful countryside village Dalby, surrounded by fields and … Continue reading A sunny afternoon in Solbyn
Travelling from Gotland through the mainland of Sweden, I visited Charlottendal ecovillage in Jarna. This ecovillage started roughly 25 years ago when the Hagerrot family bought a piece of farmland with a house and old barn at the outskirts of town. Currently the community has a big variety in types of housing and inhabitants, as … Continue reading Charlottendal
During my stay at Suderbyn I got to know the NGO called RELEARN which is run by some of the ecovillage inhabitants together with volunteers and aims to promote ecological lifestyles and social sustainability through education and research. The NGO is housed at the ecovillage, which creates the unique opportunity that many individuals can actually … Continue reading Promoting sustainable lifestyles from Suderbyn ecovillage
The beautiful island of Gotland houses a lively community where endless enthusiasm and strong ideals of the inhabitants and volunteers are driving the development of their ecovillage. With a name (meaning southern village) referring to the sunny and mild climate on Gotland compared to the rest of Sweden, Suderbyn offers a fertile ground for experiments … Continue reading Suderbyn ecovillage – an overview
A reflection on experiences in a few Danish ecovillages After visiting several ecovillages in Denmark, I want to reflect on the effects they experience from their different ownership structures they employ on community life and on the affordability of living in the ecovillage. I noticed quite some differences between the ecovillages in how the land, … Continue reading Ownership structures and their influence on community life
Dyssekilde is a large, established community on the tip of Zealand and was started thirty years ago on principles of ecological and communal life. With today over 200 people living in the ecovillage, the community is a popular place to live. They produce more than double the amount of electricity they uses and have their … Continue reading A night at ecovillage Dyssekilde
When building a sustainable house there are many different heating techniques to choose from. In this blog I dive a little deeper into some heating solutions chosen by members of Danish ecovillages. I have asked them for the reasons of choosing a specific technique and the benefits as well as downsides to their technologies. You … Continue reading Different heating technologies in Danish ecovillages
With the refurbishment of an old ceramics factory, Makvärket is a cultural and environmental collective under construction. Different from other communities I have visited, there are no permanent inhabitants here and they follow a much more radical vision for organizing in an alternative way. At Makvärket they are developing space for the creation of alternatives … Continue reading Makvärket collective
Fri og Fro is a young ecovillage in the North of Zealand with room for 16 households. Over the last fourteen years, the families have built or are building their ecological dream houses on the communally owned plot of land. The houses are designed and (partly) built by the inhabitants themselves, giving them full freedom … Continue reading Free and happy in ecovillage Fri og Fro
Expedition Ecovillage 