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| Intentional communities | |
|---|---|
| Name | Intentional communities |
| Caption | Communal living setting |
| Established | Various |
| Population | Variable |
Intentional communities are residential associations formed by groups choosing to live together based on shared values, goals, or practices. These communities range from religious communes and cooperative housing to eco-villages and spiritual communes, often emphasizing shared resources, collective decision-making, and alternative social arrangements. They intersect with movements, organizations, and figures across social reform, environmentalism, and communal experiments.
An intentional community typically features shared residence, collective resource management, and coordinated social life and often organizes around ideological commitments such as communal ownership, ecological stewardship, or spiritual practice. Examples of organizing principles appear in associations linked to The Kibbutz Movement, Hutterites, Shakers, Amish, Mennonites and initiatives inspired by Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, William Morris and Bronisław Malinowski. Common material forms include cooperative housing in cities like New York City, Berlin, San Francisco, and rural communes such as those associated with Twin Oaks Community or Findhorn Foundation. Cultural features draw on networks established by The Farm (Tennessee), Oneida Community, Brook Farm, and Walden Two experiments, while contemporary examples connect to Transition Towns, Permaculture Association, Deep Ecology proponents and networks like Fellowship for Intentional Community.
Historical antecedents trace to religious sects and utopian socialists: Plymouth Colony, Puritans, Anabaptism, Moravian Church, and colonial settlements such as New Harmony, Indiana founded by Robert Owen. Nineteenth-century experiments include Brook Farm, Oneida Community, Icarians of Étienne Cabet and agricultural communes influenced by Fourierism and Owenism. Twentieth-century developments feature collectivizations inspired by Russian Revolution, Zapatista Army of National Liberation, and cooperative movements in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Mid-century movements show the influence of William James, Aldous Huxley, B.F. Skinner (via Walden Two), and Ken Kesey on countercultural communes of the 1960s and 1970s such as Drop City and The Farm. Late twentieth and twenty-first century growth aligns with ecovillage networks, Transition Town initiatives, Occupy Wall Street-era cooperatives, and municipal policies in cities like Portland, Oregon, Bristol, and Freiburg im Breisgau.
Models include religious communities such as Shakers, Amish, Mennonites and Hutterites; socialist and cooperative models like kibbutzim of Israel and Mondragon Corporation-style cooperatives; communal experiments including Oneida Community, Bruderhof Communities, and Twin Oaks Community; eco-centric models such as Findhorn Foundation, Auroville, and Damanhur; cohousing developments popularized in Denmark and spread to United States and United Kingdom; and urban cooperative housing linked to Mutual Housing Associations, Limited-Equity Housing Cooperatives, and Housing First initiatives. Other models appear in artist collectives like Yaddo and Black Mountain College, intentional therapeutic communities such as Synanon, and business-oriented cooperatives influenced by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Karl Marx.
Decision-making methods vary from consensus and sociocracy to majority voting and hierarchical leadership. Consensus practices trace to Quaker procedures used in Religious Society of Friends meetings, while sociocracy connects to practitioners influenced by Kees Boeke and Gérard Endenburg. Cooperative governance often relies on structures codified in laws such as the Cooperative Corporation Act in various jurisdictions and principles articulated by the International Co-operative Alliance. Some communities employ corporate forms, trusts, or land trusts like Community Land Trust arrangements pioneered in Burlington, Vermont and advocated by Amelia Court-style projects. External networks such as Fellowship for Intentional Community and academic programs at University of California, Santa Cruz or University of British Columbia study governance models alongside NGOs like Global Ecovillage Network.
Economic arrangements include shared income pools, cooperative enterprises, communal labor systems, and market integration via social enterprises. Historical models involve pooled property in Oneida Community and salaried systems in many kibbutzim prior to market reforms associated with Yitzhak Rabin-era policies. Modern sustainability efforts draw on Permaculture, Regenerative agriculture, Solar energy cooperatives, and certifications by organizations like LEED for built environments in cohousing projects. Financial mechanisms range from member equity in Limited-Equity Housing Cooperatives to social investment via Community Development Financial Institutions and crowdfunding platforms inspired by Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Cooperative business models follow principles promoted by Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers and contemporary examples such as Mondragon Corporation.
Community cultures reflect rituals, shared labor, education, and conflict resolution shaped by leaders and thinkers like E.F. Schumacher, Murray Bookchin, Ivan Illich, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson. Social roles commonly include rotating work assignments, communal kitchens, and shared childcare as observed in Findhorn and Twin Oaks. Tensions documented in academic studies at Harvard University, University of Oxford, and Stanford University examine issues of inclusion, gender dynamics, succession, and exit pathways found in communities from Bruderhof to Drop City. Festivals, arts, and publications link to organizations like Greenbelt Festival, The Ecologist, Resurgence & Ecologist, and alternative presses such as The Other.
Legal status depends on forms like cooperative corporations, nonprofits, religious corporations, and trusts; case law and zoning decisions in municipalities like Santa Cruz, California, Boulder, Colorado, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Vancouver shape viability. Land-use regulation, ordinances related to occupancy, and liability issues invoke statutes such as local zoning codes and national frameworks like Registered Social Landlord regimes in the United Kingdom or Community Reinvestment Act-linked funding in the United States. Advocacy organizations such as Ecology Action and policy groups within United Nations fora, including ties to UN-Habitat and UNESCO, engage issues of sustainable settlement, heritage recognition, and rural development.
Category:Communal living Category:Utopian communities Category:Cooperatives