Eco-village—blend of town and commune

Press, 14 March 1987, Page 22

Eco-village—blend of town and commune

By

MARGARET BAKER

New Zealand’s quarter-acre pavlova paradise could be in for a major revamp. A group of Christchurch consultants believe that now is the time to develop the country’s first permaculture villages — in the interests of healthy living, a sense of community, and a sustainable future.

Eco-Developments Consortium was formed late last year by six local professionals and has released its outline for an ecovillage in Canterbury. The landuse planner for the group, David Bryce, says that each of the members is dedicated to the ethics of permaculture. “This is the way urban development and human settlements must go from now on for us to have a sustainable future,” says Mr Bryce, who is director of the engineering consultants, Davie Lovell-Smith and Partners.

The eco-village idea emphasises long-term economics and maximising the use of natural resources. "Many people value these concepts in their own living and the permaculture approach is gaining momentum throughout New Zealand,” he says. “I have been doing it for five years and as far as I can see it’s working.” The group, which also includes an architect, sanitary engineer, civil engineer, landsacpe architect, permaculture design trainee, and environmental educator, says that an eco-develop-ment provides an opportunity to

establish a cheaper, enduring, » and more satisfying life style.

“This is not a commune; it can be integrated with existing towns or settlements. You could say it blends a bit of materialism with the commune approach,” says Mr Bryce. The group has been looking at areas in the foothills of Banks Peninsula, around Lyttelton Harbour, and the foothills of the plains as possible sites for a village, but has not discussed the idea with land developers. “We will hold a public meeting

soon to gauge support for the project. Once we have an interested group we will be in a position to go further with land and financial matters.”

An alternative to buying land — “anything from a whole farm to 30 hectares” — would be to work in with an interested landowner. “The village would have to be reasonably close to a large urban centre, and it needs to have a fairly favourable northern aspect, good water catchment, and soil variety — the larger the area the better.”

In an eco-village, most of the food and energy used by residents would be produced locally — wind generators, solar collectors, and methane generators for energy, and greenhouses, ponds, gardens, farmland, and forests for food.

Wastes would be recycled as fertiliser and methane gas. Income may be generated locally or through outside activities, or both.

“Existing communities are dependent on services and organisations established several decades ago when basic material resources, energy, and waste disposal were relatively plentiful and cheap. “As resources and energy have become less plentiful, costs have risen and will continue to rise, creating increasing stresses on society and the environment.” The eco-group says that ecoliving provides a better quality of life, greater sense of “place” and belonging, increased security, and a healthier environment.

“The escalation of problems in society can be largely abated through this type of living. There is the security of belonging to a community — you can see people reaching out for it today in the neighbourhood support movement,” says David Bryce. He cites a permaculture village in California as an example of such a self-reliant community,

and says a similar one is being set up in Queensland. In New Zealand, the eco-group plans to integrate site evaluation, organisation and production, site development, services, and buildings to establish a yillage. Location, geology, climate, land form, hydrology, soils,, biota, history, and existing communities and uses will be taken into account when choosing a site.

The residents would decide on the type of finance and land tenure arrangements for the village. The options could include private freehold, joint ownership, tenancy in common, co-operative society, company, leasehold, trusts, or combinations of these.

Production and income could come from primary and secondary production of food, fibre, fuel, craftware, advisory and educational services, home-based trade and professional occupations, electricity generation, and tourism.

“The village should be able to accommodate different opinions and aspirations. It would be totally flexible and people would work and live as they choose — but there would be a consensus on general ethics, land and resource use.”

The size of the village would depend on the group of people interested, but the eco-group suggests that village units of about 30 households tend to produce a strong sense of “place” and belonging, as well as a sense of responsibility for other residents’ security. A comprehensive system of activities and facilities would be designed, incorporating feature areas (ecosystems, landmarks), forests, farmland, gardens, housing, a village centre, and service development for such things as water management, access, and fire protection. Where possible, all services would be provided from on-site resources and should be designed to conserve energy.

Walkways and cycle ways would link key areas, car pooling would be encouraged, and vehicle movement restricted where possible. The houses themselves should

be energy efficient, collecting and storing the heat of the sun and minimising heat losses in winter. The group has prepared a list of factors to be taken into account when building a house, including location, orientation, design, materials, glass, insulation, and planting. David Bryce says that the ecoconsortium sees its role as assisting people to implement such villages by using the wealth of research which has been done by many people over several years.

“We won’t be providing' any financial input. We are trying to crystallise and promote the idea, and would act as professional consultants to people who wanted to set up a village. We hope we can encourage people to do this; we are doing it out of dedication to the cause. No financial gain is involved.”

He is optimistic that “the cause” will receive good support. “The economic climate is right — subsidies are gone and with them traditional support systems for economic management. The old way is no longer viable. “Many people out there are putting up with their existing way of life just because they see no other option.”

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