What’s an ecovillage? What’s cohousing?

Many in our movement will employ both terms, almost interchangeably. That’s because most cohousing communities are just as eco-conscious as are ecovillages. Some say cohousing communities prioritize the social while ecovillages prioritize the ecological; but in practice that rarely seems to be the case. Both tend to have a strong eco-communitarian ethos.

A definition given for an ecovillage might go something like this: It’s an intentional community that’s consciously designed to regenerate social and natural environments — integrating cultural, economic, ecological, and social dimensions in a whole-systems approach to sustainability. There are thriving rural-agricultural, suburban, and urban ecovillages.

Cohousing is an intentional-community residential model where houses are all (or mostly) owned individually and include traditional amenities (like a private kitchen). The architecture and the layout of the grounds is conducive to social interaction but also allows for privacy. The units are organized around shared spaces that typically feature a Common House, which may include a large kitchen and dining area for shared meals, laundry facilities, and recreational spaces. Cohousing makes it easy to form clubs or organize childcare, eldercare, working groups, carpools, or even car-sharing. There’s a conscious fostering of access and cooperation such that neighbors tend to gather naturally for socializing and events. Many, though not all, residents participate together in community self-management. They often help each other with life-tasks such as childcare, shopping, home maintenance, etc.

Most ecovillages incorporate the cohousing residential model, but not all do. Some are fully communal, holding all land and amenities in common and sharing all personal incomes and group revenues.