Why aren’t there More Intentional Communities?
The idea of forming an Intentional community – to share common ideas, common values, concern for the environment and many other issues – this idea helped in the creation of a number of eco-villages and other small communities throughout the world.
So why didn’t this idea spread and take over across the world instead of the proliferation of big cities and now the Mega cities? Current projects for Urbanization across the world, at the expense of Rural communities show we will likely be at 66% Urban by 2050.
As I see it, there are two possible reasons why the idea of these small, somewhat self-contained communities, has not prospered.
For the first reason, these groups are often too small to grow, they are not sustainable, and must operate within the External Economy for their survival. They need income for outside their community in the form of profit on things they make or wages they earn to sustain the local community as a whole. And this income does not stay in the community when they have allowed external companies, often multinationals to sell in their community and take the profits elsewhere. The very small communities often shrink rather than grow and consequently don’t last very long.
The second reason is related the demographics of the community. Each new Village or community typically needs significant funding to get started. Things like Realtor costs to find suitable property, then purchasing the land, the legal requirements, adherence to zoning bylaws, building codes, health regulations, permits and other financial considerations all take money. Its sort of like taking a Farm and laying a subdivision on top, we end up with waste disposal issues, water requirements, subdividing issues, and eventually have an actual selling price per lot – usually pricey.
As a result of this, the homes usually end up being very expensive. This means they need to be marketed to potential clients who can afford the cost of these homes, to ensure proper growth, meaning even more funding for this marketing. Quite often, the selection process for new members is rigorous, in addition to a settling-in probationary period, to ensure these prospects will fit into this community with it’s values and lifestyle choices having already been established.
Sometimes this ends up in a division or split over time, as ideas about where the community is headed start to diverge or collide. This usually means one group stays and the other goes, thus reducing the size of the community, which causes further problems.
Assuming the community gets off to a good start, there are numerous expenses to contend with as a community. There is local Taxes, security within the community, the costs of maintaining common areas like common kitchens, roads, parks, perhaps a Recreation Centre with Pools, a Gym or Stables.
In some startup communities there may be one or several wealthy members who are able to assist in funding the initial startup. Depending on how this is handled, this may cause friction later on down the road as the initial funder(s) may wish to leave and be compensated for the investment(s) made.
Given all of the funding expenses required in the second reason, it becomes obvious that a significant investment is going to be required. This will exclude the poor and very poor from looking at this solution to their problems, despite the fact that it would, depending on how it was organized, solve many of their Basic Needs, if they were able to share locally, rather than contend with the external economy.
So, in summary, the communities we are discussing here are often either small and underfunded, or of a workable size but expensive and selective for potential members. I wonder if there should be some other option that lets the community grow, has a low barrier to entry, and much less bureaucratic, logistic and legal work to get it started.
Do you think people could live together in a community where Everything was Shared, but everything remained inside the community – that is to say – a sustainable, self-contained community?
(By Phil Lloyd Jan, 2016)
Eliminate Poverty 