Intentional Community Reference Material
Re-Imagining
Utopia
An
ABC series about Intentional Communities
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/utopias/resources/resources.htm
A list of books, reports, videos and other publications focusing
on intentional communities is listed below. A guide to online resources is
available here »
and, with audio option:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/lm/stories/s981221.htm
Australian Books
Beginners Guide to Intentional Community
This DIY manual, published in 2001, came out of several Intentional Communities
Conferences & Gatherings, and was put together by members of communities
across Australia
www.shoalhaven.net.au/~romaine/ecovillage/documentation/ICManual.doc
Ecovillages & Communities Directory: Australia & New
Zealand
Contains information on 36 communities, their size, age and primary focus,
history, how they deal with issues like shelter, food, water, energy use,
spirituality, community 'glue', work and outreach activities. It also includes
contact information for each community and whether or not the community accepts
visitors/woofers. Published by the Global Ecovillage Network Oceania & Asia
(GENOA) Inc.
Alternative Australia: Communities of the Future? Peter
Cock.
The original survey of Australia's intentional communities movement. Quartet
Books, Melbourne, 1979 ISBN: 0 9081 2809 6.
Herrnhut: Australia's First Utopian Commune, William J.
Metcalf and Elizabeth Huf
The story of Johann Friedrich Krumnow and his followers, who fled Germany in the
1800s to escape religious oppression and sought a safe haven in western Victoria
for their radical Christian, mystic and communist way of life. Melbourne
University Press, March 2002, ISBN 0 522 84993 8.
The Gayndah Communes: from Aborigines and Squatters through
Communes to Rural Depopulation in the Gayndah Area, Bill Metcalf.
The story of three rural communes which were set up to the north and east of
Gayndah, in Queensland's Burnett District, during the 1890s and which took their
inspiration from the utopian activist William Lane. Central Queensland
University Press, 1998. ISBN 1 875998 49 7.
Shared Visions, Shared Lives: Communal Living Round the Globe,
Bill Metcalf.
Stories of people living in fifteen communities. Intimate accounts of successes,
failures and dreams in the 1990s. Findhorn Press 1996. ISBN 1 899171010.
From Utopian Dreaming to Communal Reality: Cooperative
Lifestyles in Australia, Bill Metcalf. Ten personal essays by members of
Australian intentional communities, talking about the ideas that inspired them
and the ups and downs of communal life. University of NSW Press, Sydney, 1995.
ISBN 0 868400 87 4.
Communes In Rural Australia: the movement since 1970,
Margaret Munroe-Clark. A field study of 36 Australian intentional communities
with a report on the various forms of settlement and who lives there. Uses the
work of Benjamin Zablocki to analyse social change and decision making
processes. Hale and Iremonger in association with the Ian Buchan Fell Research
Centre, Dept Architecture Sydney University, 1986. ISBN 0 86806 219 7.
Belonging in the Rainbow Region: Cultural perspectives on the
NSW North Coast, Helen Wilson (ed). A range of writers look at the social
and cultural impact of alternative lifestyle settlers of the 1970s on the
Rainbow Region of north-east NSW. Includes a chapter on intentional communities.
Southern Cross University Press, Lismore, 2003, ISBN 1 875855 61 0.
Australian Community Studies and Beyond, Ron Wild, Allen
& Unwin, Sydney: 1981.
Australian Reports and Monographs
State Environmental Planning Policy No 15: Rural Landsharing
Communities, NSW State Government, 1998.
Rural Settlement: Guidelines on Rural Settlement on the North
Coast of NSW, NSW Dept of Urban Affairs and Planning, 1995. ISBN 07 7310
6223 X.
Rural Land Sharing Communities: An Alternative Economic
Model?, E. A. Sommerlad, P.L. Dawson, J.C. Altman, Bureau of Labour Market
Research, A.G.P.S. Canberra 1985.
Low Cost Rural Resettlement, Scott Williams (ed). A
beginners guide to low cost rural resettlements. Covers land selection, legal
options for owning land, housing alternatives, and intentional community
development practices including governance. Australian Rural Adjustment Unit,
ARUA Publication no 133, University of New England, Armidale, 1983.
Other print publications
Eurotopia: Directory of Intentional Communities and
Ecovillages in Europe (English language version)
Lists 336 intentional communities in 23 European countries with detailed
descriptions of each one. It includes useful reference material like a list of
communities organisations, maps, a brief history of intentional communities, and
an article on how to visit a community. Edited by Hagmaier, Kommerell, Stengel,
and Wurfel. Published 2000, by Silke Hagmaier Verlag, ISBN: 3 00 00708 0 X.
Communities Directory: A Guide to Intentional Communities and
Cooperative Living
A guide to 'over 700' intentional communities mainly in the United States,
although many European communities are listed. Includes a range of other
resources such as US maps and articles. Published by the Fellowship for
Intentional Communities, 3rd Revision edition (April 2000) ISBN 0960271481.
Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and
Their Governments, Mark Roseland, Maureen Cureton, Heather Wornell, Hazel
Henderson. A practical guide to community planning issues such a transport,
waste systems, decision making and the like. New Society Publishers; (April
1998) ISBN 086571374X.
Voices from the Farm: Adventures in Community Living, Rupert Fike
(Editor). Personal accounts of living on The Farm, a large, 33 year old
community in Summertown, Southern Tennessee. Book Publishing Co; (May 1998) ISBN
157067051X.
Communes and Green Vision: Counterculture, Lifestyle and the
New Age, David Pepper. A survey of the environmental ideals and
eco-practices of over 80 members of 12 intentional communities in the UK. Green
Print, London, 1991. ISBN 1 854250 51 5.
Is It Utopia Yet?: An Insider's View of Twin Oaks Community
in Its Twenty-Sixth Year, Kat Kinkade, Jonathan Roth (Illustrator), Kathleen
Kinkade What makes a community work in the long run? One assessment from a
resident of one of the USA's oldest communities. Twin Oaks Publishing; 2nd
edition (August 1994) ISBN 0 964044 50 1.
The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond, Timothy Miller. A
thorough account of the main sites of the communal movement - lots of scholarly
notes. Syracuse University Press (December 1999) ISBN 0815628110.
Getting Back Together, Robert Houriet. A journalist's
account of his travels in North American communes during the late 60s and 70s -
a mite sensational but a gripping and moving historical account of these
pioneers of alternative lifestyles. Avon Books, New York, 1971 (out of print).
Utopian England: community experiments, 1900-1945, Dennis
Hardy An intellectual exploration of intentional community building, with a
focus on the key thinkers who inspired these alternative lifestyles. Routledge,
2000, ISBN: 0419246703
The Quest for Utopia in Twentieth-Century America, vol. 1,
1900-1960, Timothy Miller The strength of Miller's survey is the way he
charts continuity in the ideas and the sites of communal movements. Syracuse
University Press, Syracuse, 1998, ISBN: 0815627750
Videos
Togetherness (Tillsammans), 2001 dir. Lukas Moodysson. A
Swedish feature film which captures life on a Swedish commune in the mid 70s,
and how the members and their children deal with a time of "free love,
Marxist-Leninist theorizing, vegetarianism, open marriages, and driving around
in beat-up Volkswagen vans with brightly painted flowers on them".
Nearly Normal Nimbin, dirs. Jeni Kendell, Paul Tait
A trilogy of nostalgic, funny documentaries about the social evolution of
Nimbin, in rural NSW, after the alternative lifestyles movement arrived the 70s.
Episode One: Back to where it all started - the 1973 Aquarius Festival. Purity,
Nudity, Peace, Love and plenty of Brown Rice.
Episode Two: The town and what a melting pot it has become. The artists and
craftspeople, and the hemp.
Episode Three: Growing up, being a teenager, relationships, the non-nuclear
family. Dealing with today and looking to tomorrow.
Future of Paradise, dir. Michael Murray. This documentary
follows David Kanaley, a town planner with Byron Shire Council, on a research
trip through Europe looking at successful ecovillages and meeting the people who
live there.
Going Tribal, dir. Michael Murray. A documentary about
the 'feral' movement in rural Australia, cousins of the 'New Age Travellers' in
Britain and the 'Rainbow Tribe' in the USA, who disdain materialism, worship an
earth-based, pagan religion and live in harmony with nature.
Journals and academic networks
Communal Studies Association
Provides a forum for the study of intentional communities, past and present.
Part of its mission is to communicate successful ideas developed through
communal living.
http://www.communalstudies.info/
H-Net communal societies network
A resource site and discussion portal for those interested
in the study of intentional communities.
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~commsoc/
Communal Societies: Journal of the Communal Studies
Association
'Communal Societies' provides an outlet for papers
representing original research and analysis of historic and current communal
groups.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/CSA/CSAhomepglinks/CSAJournals/ComSoc.html
Utopian Studies journal
A biannual journal publishing papers on utopias, utopianism,
utopian literature, utopian theory, and intentional communities. Published by
the Society for Utopian Studies at the University of Toronto.
http://www.utoronto.ca/utopia/journal/index.html
Australian Books
Beginners Guide to Intentional Community
This DIY manual, published in 2001, came out of several Intentional Communities
Conferences & Gatherings, and was put together by members of communities
across Australia
www.shoalhaven.net.au/~romaine/ecovillage/documentation/ICManual.doc
Ecovillages & Communities Directory: Australia & New
Zealand
Contains information on 36 communities, their size, age and primary focus,
history, how they deal with issues like shelter, food, water, energy use,
spirituality, community 'glue', work and outreach activities. It also includes
contact information for each community and whether or not the community accepts
visitors/woofers. Published by the Global Ecovillage Network Oceania & Asia
(GENOA) Inc.
Alternative Australia: Communities of the Future? Peter
Cock.
The original survey of Australia's intentional communities movement. Quartet
Books, Melbourne, 1979 ISBN: 0 9081 2809 6.
Herrnhut: Australia's First Utopian Commune, William J.
Metcalf and Elizabeth Huf
The story of Johann Friedrich Krumnow and his followers, who fled Germany in the
1800s to escape religious oppression and sought a safe haven in western Victoria
for their radical Christian, mystic and communist way of life. Melbourne
University Press, March 2002, ISBN 0 522 84993 8.
The Gayndah Communes: from Aborigines and Squatters through
Communes to Rural Depopulation in the Gayndah Area, Bill Metcalf.
The story of three rural communes which were set up to the north and east of
Gayndah, in Queensland's Burnett District, during the 1890s and which took their
inspiration from the utopian activist William Lane. Central Queensland
University Press, 1998. ISBN 1 875998 49 7.
Shared Visions, Shared Lives: Communal Living Round the Globe,
Bill Metcalf.
Stories of people living in fifteen communities. Intimate accounts of successes,
failures and dreams in the 1990s. Findhorn Press 1996. ISBN 1 899171010.
From Utopian Dreaming to Communal Reality: Cooperative
Lifestyles in Australia, Bill Metcalf. Ten personal essays by members of
Australian intentional communities, talking about the ideas that inspired them
and the ups and downs of communal life. University of NSW Press, Sydney, 1995.
ISBN 0 868400 87 4.
Communes In Rural Australia: the movement since 1970,
Margaret Munroe-Clark. A field study of 36 Australian intentional communities
with a report on the various forms of settlement and who lives there. Uses the
work of Benjamin Zablocki to analyse social change and decision making
processes. Hale and Iremonger in association with the Ian Buchan Fell Research
Centre, Dept Architecture Sydney University, 1986. ISBN 0 86806 219 7.
Belonging in the Rainbow Region: Cultural perspectives on the
NSW North Coast, Helen Wilson (ed). A range of writers look at the social
and cultural impact of alternative lifestyle settlers of the 1970s on the
Rainbow Region of north-east NSW. Includes a chapter on intentional communities.
Southern Cross University Press, Lismore, 2003, ISBN 1 875855 61 0.
Australian Community Studies and Beyond, Ron Wild, Allen
& Unwin, Sydney: 1981.
Australian Reports and Monographs
State Environmental Planning Policy No 15: Rural Landsharing
Communities, NSW State Government, 1998.
Rural Settlement: Guidelines on Rural Settlement on the North
Coast of NSW, NSW Dept of Urban Affairs and Planning, 1995. ISBN 07 7310
6223 X.
Rural Land Sharing Communities: An Alternative Economic
Model?, E. A. Sommerlad, P.L. Dawson, J.C. Altman, Bureau of Labour Market
Research, A.G.P.S. Canberra 1985.
Low Cost Rural Resettlement, Scott Williams (ed). A
beginners guide to low cost rural resettlements. Covers land selection, legal
options for owning land, housing alternatives, and intentional community
development practices including governance. Australian Rural Adjustment Unit,
ARUA Publication no 133, University of New England, Armidale, 1983.
Other print publications
Eurotopia: Directory of Intentional Communities and
Ecovillages in Europe (English language version)
Lists 336 intentional communities in 23 European countries with detailed
descriptions of each one. It includes useful reference material like a list of
communities organisations, maps, a brief history of intentional communities, and
an article on how to visit a community. Edited by Hagmaier, Kommerell, Stengel,
and Wurfel. Published 2000, by Silke Hagmaier Verlag, ISBN: 3 00 00708 0 X.
Communities Directory: A Guide to Intentional Communities and
Cooperative Living
A guide to 'over 700' intentional communities mainly in the United States,
although many European communities are listed. Includes a range of other
resources such as US maps and articles. Published by the Fellowship for
Intentional Communities, 3rd Revision edition (April 2000) ISBN 0960271481.
Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and
Their Governments, Mark Roseland, Maureen Cureton, Heather Wornell, Hazel
Henderson. A practical guide to community planning issues such a transport,
waste systems, decision making and the like. New Society Publishers; (April
1998) ISBN 086571374X.
Voices from the Farm: Adventures in Community Living, Rupert Fike
(Editor). Personal accounts of living on The Farm, a large, 33 year old
community in Summertown, Southern Tennessee. Book Publishing Co; (May 1998) ISBN
157067051X.
Communes and Green Vision: Counterculture, Lifestyle and the
New Age, David Pepper. A survey of the environmental ideals and
eco-practices of over 80 members of 12 intentional communities in the UK. Green
Print, London, 1991. ISBN 1 854250 51 5.
Is It Utopia Yet?: An Insider's View of Twin Oaks Community
in Its Twenty-Sixth Year, Kat Kinkade, Jonathan Roth (Illustrator), Kathleen
Kinkade What makes a community work in the long run? One assessment from a
resident of one of the USA's oldest communities. Twin Oaks Publishing; 2nd
edition (August 1994) ISBN 0 964044 50 1.
The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond, Timothy Miller. A
thorough account of the main sites of the communal movement - lots of scholarly
notes. Syracuse University Press (December 1999) ISBN 0815628110.
Getting Back Together, Robert Houriet. A journalist's
account of his travels in North American communes during the late 60s and 70s -
a mite sensational but a gripping and moving historical account of these
pioneers of alternative lifestyles. Avon Books, New York, 1971 (out of print).
Utopian England: community experiments, 1900-1945, Dennis
Hardy An intellectual exploration of intentional community building, with a
focus on the key thinkers who inspired these alternative lifestyles. Routledge,
2000, ISBN: 0419246703
The Quest for Utopia in Twentieth-Century America, vol. 1,
1900-1960, Timothy Miller The strength of Miller's survey is the way he
charts continuity in the ideas and the sites of communal movements. Syracuse
University Press, Syracuse, 1998, ISBN: 0815627750
Videos
Togetherness (Tillsammans), 2001 dir. Lukas Moodysson. A
Swedish feature film which captures life on a Swedish commune in the mid 70s,
and how the members and their children deal with a time of "free love,
Marxist-Leninist theorizing, vegetarianism, open marriages, and driving around
in beat-up Volkswagen vans with brightly painted flowers on them".
Nearly Normal Nimbin, dirs. Jeni Kendell, Paul Tait
A trilogy of nostalgic, funny documentaries about the social evolution of
Nimbin, in rural NSW, after the alternative lifestyles movement arrived the 70s.
Episode One: Back to where it all started - the 1973 Aquarius Festival. Purity,
Nudity, Peace, Love and plenty of Brown Rice.
Episode Two: The town and what a melting pot it has become. The artists and
craftspeople, and the hemp.
Episode Three: Growing up, being a teenager, relationships, the non-nuclear
family. Dealing with today and looking to tomorrow.
Future of Paradise, dir. Michael Murray. This documentary
follows David Kanaley, a town planner with Byron Shire Council, on a research
trip through Europe looking at successful ecovillages and meeting the people who
live there.
Going Tribal, dir. Michael Murray. A documentary about
the 'feral' movement in rural Australia, cousins of the 'New Age Travellers' in
Britain and the 'Rainbow Tribe' in the USA, who disdain materialism, worship an
earth-based, pagan religion and live in harmony with nature.
Journals and academic networks
Communal Studies Association
Provides a forum for the study of intentional communities, past and present.
Part of its mission is to communicate successful ideas developed through
communal living.
http://www.communalstudies.info/
H-Net communal societies network
A resource site and discussion portal for those interested
in the study of intentional communities.
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~commsoc/
Communal Societies: Journal of the Communal Studies
Association
'Communal Societies' provides an outlet for papers
representing original research and analysis of historic and current communal
groups.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/CSA/CSAhomepglinks/CSAJournals/ComSoc.html
Utopian Studies journal
A biannual journal publishing papers on utopias, utopianism,
utopian literature, utopian theory, and intentional communities. Published by
the Society for Utopian Studies at the University of Toronto.
http://www.utoronto.ca/utopia/journal/index.html
For further information on Intentional Communities refer to the
online resources listed below. A list of books, reports, videos and other
publications focusing on this subject is also available here
»
ABC Online reports
Aldinga Arts EcoVillage - Earthbeat Broadcast 8/6/2002
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/stories/s575296.htm
Co-housing - Future Dimensions Broadcast 6.30pm on
28/8/2002
http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_future/Transcripts/s661696.htm
Swedish Ecovillage - Earthbeat Broadcast 22/04/00
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/stories/s122997.htm
Other online resources
Beyond Sustainability
Author and researcher Dr David Holmgren joined Bill Mollison
as the co-founder of the permaculture movement in Australia. Holmgren's
eco-village community 'Melliodora' at Fryers Forest in Victoria is testimony to
25 years of sustainable living. His book 'Principle and Pathways: Beyond
Sustainability' is regarded as an important text for developing communities.
http://www.holmgren.com.au
Children of the Dream
Photos and stories of the original Nimbin Aquarians, communitarians and other
Rainbow Region change agents. These are a large part of a photo-documentary
exhibition being held at the Nimbin Regional Gallery from Friday 2nd - Sunday
25th May 2003, as part of the Aquarius festival 30th anniversary.
http://www.users.bigpond.com/differentlyfocused/index2.html
Cohousing
Cohousing Research and Education Queensland University of Technology.
http://www.bee.qut.edu.au/people/meltzer/index.htm
Dunn's Farm
Community of environmental activists formed to protect and
restore their property which is located on the edge of Toonumbar National Park.
http://www.dunnsfarm.org
Earthwise
Visit permaculture designer Robyn Francis' Earthwise
Resource Development Australasia (ERDA).
http://www.earthwise.org.au/
Eco village planning
Byron Shire Council's resources on eco-village building are invaluable to anyone
contemplating this form of intentional community.
» "What is an Eco-village Anyway?"
Extract from article written for TROPO magazine, by David
Kanaley, September 2001
http://www.byron.nsw.gov.au/pdfs/natural_lane/nl_other/nl_investigations.pdf
» Conversion of Approved Rural Landsharing Multiple
Occupancy Developments to Community Title Developments
http://www.byron.nsw.gov.au/pdfs/enviro_planning/mo_to_community_title_2.pdf
» Information Sheet
http://www.byron.nsw.gov.au/pdfs/enviro_planning/add_info_mo.pdf
» A glance at the investigation into siting an
eco-village at 'Natural Lane'
http://www.byron.nsw.gov.au/pdfs/natural_lane/nl_other/nl_investigations.pdf
» And a provocative counterpoint to
"Ecovillages: a viable idea constrained by poor rural
economies."
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/2003/Jan03/Grayson.htm
GENOA
Community designer Max Lindegger has established the Global
Ecovillage Network Oceania-Australia.
http://genoa.ecovillage.org/
Global Crisis
A dissertation by Ted Trainer on the need for societal
change adapted and updated from Abandon Affluence: London, Zed Books, 1985.
Trainer's work is widely quoted and debated in sustainable communities forums.
http://users.tpg.com.au/users/resolve/globalcrisis/part1.html
Debating the Significance of the Global Eco-village
Movement
Ted Trainer's reply to criticism of his approach.
http://www.democracynature.org/dn/vol8/takis_trainer.htm
Intentional communities
A richly researched site on community studies developed by
Ian Hughes, from Sydney University's faculty of Health Sciences.
http://www2.fhs.usyd.edu.au/bach/pub/community/intencom.htm
Is There a Future for Alternative Lifestyles?
An essay for the Diggers and Dreamers communal living site
by Australian communities historian and researcher Bill Metcalf.
http://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk/Articles/199207.htm
Moora Moora
Moora Moora is a co-operative residential community made up
40 adults, and 17 children living in six small hamlets located on a
co-operatively owned 245 hectare (600 acre) property in Victoria.
http://mooramoora.org/
Pinakarri Community
Established in 1991, Pinakarri Community is Western
Australia's first house co-operative with a mix of public rental and private
home ownership, based on co-housing principles. Pinakarri is an Aboriginal (Nyangamarta)
word meaning "deep listening".
http://www.pinakarri.org.au/
The Melbourne Cohousing Network
The Melbourne Cohousing Network, run by Hans Tilstra, is
a nonprofit network of people interested in developing cohousing projects in
Victoria.
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~cohouse/
Tui Land Trust
A community of some 40-50 people in Aotearoa/New Zealand,
the Tui Land Trust is a thriving community which adopted Maori-based conflict
resolution practices and an earth centred spirituality. This essay is by Robina
McCurdy, a community co-founder who works internationally in community
development and permaculture design.
http://partnering.inet.net.nz/a/towards.htm
Willing Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF)
This is a form of work and cultural exchange which thrives
on intentional communities. People can travel, live and work as family with host
farmers.
http://www.wwoof.com.au/
Global resources
Cohousing
An international website devoted to communal housing design.
http://www.cohousing.org/
Economads
A weblog by travellers visiting intentional communities
around the world.
http://www.economads.com/evolulog.php
Fellowship for Intentional Communities
A North American body with a comprehensive website,
including resources for budding communitarians. Highly recommended.
http://fic.ic.org/
Findhorn Community
One of the older contemporary intentional communities in
Europe, Findhorn is a place built on New Age spiritual exploration and a
humanist vision. Its foundation runs a variety of educational programs and it
welcomes thousands of visitors every year.
http://www.findhorn.org/
Self governance
What form of government do you support? How do you fall on
key questions of governance? You can define your basic political philosophy
using this easy quiz.
http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html
Sociology of Everyday Life
A wonderful reading list of books that look at the
individual and the communal in contemporary society, compiled by the University
of Canterbury's sociology department.
http://www.soci.canterbury.ac.nz/soci/soci225/refs/ref16.htm
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