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EcoVillage at Ithaca

Finalist 1999 | United States of America

Outline

A model community of 500 residents has been created on 176 acres of land to exemplify sustainable systems of living.

This film gives an overview of the village development.

Full details

A model community of 500 residents has been created on 176 acres of land to exemplify sustainable systems of living. The EcoVillage at Ithaca combines densely clustered, energy conserving housing with the preservation of open space, organic agriculture and the conservation of natural resources. The village promotes an integrated approach, which is both socially and environmentally sound, to living and working: the agricultural and farming process is being run as a business where consumers buy shares in the seasons harvests before the seeds have been planted. There is great emphasis on education, and employment is provided for 18 per cent of the residents of the village.

Partnership

NGO, private sector, academic/research, local community

Update(s)

Since being a World Habitat Award finalist in 1999, the EcoVillage at Ithaca has grown to become the largest cohousing community in the world, with the completion of their third cohousing neighbourhoods in 2016. The third cohousing neighbourhood, Third Residential Ecovillage Experience (TREE) increased the number of houses from 30 to 100 with a population of approximately 160 adults and 80 children.

Their educational programs reach at least 1,000 people a year. In 2015, working with state and local partners, EcoVillage Ithaca jointly developed and launched a professional-level training programme for architects, green builders, community developers and planners. Through this training programme they trained 58 architects, engineers and green builders to create buildings that produce more energy than they consume.

EcoVillage Ithaca continues to inspire the formation of other cohousing communities and ecovillages in the U.S., Canada, Senegal, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, Korea and many European countries. EcoVillage Ithaca Executive Director, Liz Walker, has written two books, EcoVillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture; and Choosing a Sustainable Future: Ideas & Inspiration from Ithaca, NY. They have been translated into Korean, Japanese and Turkish.

Watch this short film about the third neighbourhood TREE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4wPnwPVuu4