Finding convergence: Economic perspectives and the economic practices of an Australian ecovillage

Price, Oriana Milani; Ville, Simon; Heffernan, Emma; Gibbons, Belinda; Johnsson, Mary C.

doi:10.1016/j.eist.2019.12.007

Cited by 9 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The emergence of ecovillages in other countries is a reflection of the way people relate to nature in the postindustrial era in developed countries (Barani, Alibeygi, & Papzan, 2018;Dawson, 2006;Adalilar, Alkibay, & Eser, 2015;Westskog, TanjaWinther, & Aasen, 2018). Through the construction of ecovillages, residential communities with low impact on the environment (Sherry, 2019), sustainable economy (Price et al, 2020) and strong community cohesion (Sherry, 2019;Barani, Alibeygi, & Papzan, 2018;Yuliastuti et al, 2017) can be formed (Liang, Gao, & Genovese, 2012;Adalilar, Alkibay, & Eser, 2015). Chinese ecovillages, in comparison, are a policy-guided phenomenon based on national conditions and aimed at developing the rural economy, protecting the rural environment (Wang, Y. et al, 2015;Guo et al, 2017;Wu & Haasis, 2018;Gao, X. et al, 2019) and solving social problems (Liu, C., Wang, & Mackillop, 2020).…”

Section: Ecovillage Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Globally, research on ecovillages has been mainly focused on the following seven aspects: energy supply and demand (Klein & Coffey, 2016;Ho, Hashim, & Lim, 2014;Tomičić & Schatten, 2016), permaculture (Råberg, 2007), social and environment (Lockyer, 2017;Roysen & Mertens, 2019), economic (Price et al, 2020), different concepts of ecovillages (Litfin, 2014;Xue, 2014), sustainable development (Hall, 2015;Sherry, 2019;Hong & HandanVicdan, 2016), and case studies (Ristianti, 2016;Kirby, 2003). In China, ecovillage projects are mostly government-led with support in finance and policies and developed to solve various increasingly severe rural issues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Review of the Chinese Government Support and Sustainability Assessment for Ecovillage Development with a Global Perspective

Gao

Wang

Liu³

et al. 2022

IRSPSD International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Having achieved substantial progress in urban development over the past three decades, the Chinese government has turned to ecovillage development as one of the more effective ways to solve increasingly serious rural issues, such as poverty, rural hollowing, a deteriorating natural environment, and farmland abandonment. However, in spite of various promotional policies and substantial financial investment, there are very few studies assessing the impact of governmental support on ecovillage development. This paper presents a study applying both qualitative research and quantitative analysis to compare the effects of the support, especially in funding and policies, on their development. A comparison was made of three cases, one in China and two elsewhere. To provide a common basis for comparison, three quantificationbased assessments were examined with a view to applying them in this study. These were the Evaluation for Construction of Beautiful Village (ECBV) from China, and the BREEAM Community and LEED-ND, two well-established international examples. The following analyses using the three methods reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the Chinese government support in ecovillage development, and limitations of the quantification-based assessment methods. Proposals are made for improving the nature of government support and the use of the ECBV. These research outcomes can help formulate the rural development policies in the critical time of socio-economic transition in China, and the research process could be a reference to review quantificationbased assessment methods in other developing countries with similar levels of development.

show abstract

Section: Ecovillage Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Chinese Government Support and Sustainability Assessment for Ecovillage Development with a Global Perspective

Gao

Wang

Liu³

et al. 2022

IRSPSD International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In some ecovillages, living expenses are reduced by sharing costly assets and saving cost on building materials by bulk buying and growing food for community consumption and sale (Pickerill 2017). These economic models have their own merit but are perhaps insufficient for the long-term economic sustainability of ecovillages (Price et al 2020). Eventually, ecovillages might have to rely on external sources to import goods and services which cannot be produced on-site.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Ecovillagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ecovillages are intentional communities characterized by alternative lifestyles, values, economics and governance systems (Joss 2010a, b;Ergas 2010). At the same time ecovillages are located within and interact with growth-oriented capitalistic systems (Price et al 2020). This dichotomy presents a challenge for ecovillages as they put ideas of sustainability transformation into practice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A critical examination of a community-led ecovillage initiative: a case of Auroville, India

Venkitaraman

Joshi

2022

Clim Action

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human settlements across the world are attempting to address climate change, leading to changing paradigms, parameters, and indicators for defining the path to future sustainability. In this regard, the term ecovillage has been increasingly used as models for sustainable human settlements. While the term is new, the concept is an old one: human development in harmony with nature. However, materially realizing the concept of an ecovillage is not without challenges. These include challenges in scaling up and transferability, negative regional impacts and struggles of functioning within larger capitalistic and growth-oriented systems. This paper presents the case of Auroville, an early attempt to establish an ecovillage in Southern India. We draw primarily from the ethnographic living and working experience of the authors in Auroville as well as published academic literature and newspaper articles. We find that Auroville has proven to be a successful laboratory for providing bottom-up, low cost and context-specific ecological solutions to the challenges of sustainability. However, challenges of economic and social sustainability compound as the town attempts to scale up and grow. Graphical abstract

show abstract

“…Previous studies have found that inhabitants in ecovillages, also known as ecovillagers, have a lower environmental impact and stronger social support when compared with the broader society [12][13][14]. Most prior research on ecovillages has been through case studies, and few have used large sample sizes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling Up Ecovillagers’ Lifestyles Can Help to Decarbonise Europe

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Decarbonisation is an essential response to the threat of climate change. To achieve Europe’s net-zero 2050 climate targets, radical technological and social changes are required. Lifestyle changes for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are an important component of complex systemic transformation. The typical behaviour of inhabitants in ecovillages is potentially more conducive to sustainable lifestyles than the current European standard lifestyle. This study explores the potential of ecovillagers' lifestyles to contribute to decarbonisation using the Multilevel Perspective (MLP) theoretical framework. The research data were obtained through the model tool EUCalc and an online survey of 73 ecovillage residents in 24 European countries. The results indicate that current ecovillagers’ lifestyles, regarding home, consumption, diet, and mobility, would continue to produce 40% fewer emissions per capita than the standard European lifestyle by 2050. The study identifies which ecovillage behaviours would produce the largest reductions in per-capita CO2eq emissions if adopted by society more broadly.

show abstract

Finding convergence: Economic perspectives and the economic practices of an Australian ecovillage

Cited by 9 publications

References 41 publications

A Review of the Chinese Government Support and Sustainability Assessment for Ecovillage Development with a Global Perspective

A Review of the Chinese Government Support and Sustainability Assessment for Ecovillage Development with a Global Perspective

A critical examination of a community-led ecovillage initiative: a case of Auroville, India

Scaling Up Ecovillagers’ Lifestyles Can Help to Decarbonise Europe

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About