Delhi Village

Tim Gummer — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 12:51:41 +0000

Whanganui

Started as an idea among six socially connected households, the community has steadily been turning their aspiration into reality – house by house, on the rural fringe of the provincial town of Whanganui.

The community now has its complement of nine households involved in development, with three residential so far.

Members see their community as an opportunity to live in a village atmosphere, socially connected on shared land, while maintaining independence in their own homes.

The group purchased 12.8 hectares of rural land, subdivided, and developed a grey-water system.

Most of the residential sites are clustered, with remaining land available for orchards, gardens, growing firewood and grazing sheep and chickens, and the steepest part being re-clad in native forest.

Delhi Village has been looking to embrace a variety of ages and cultures. The community includes a lawyer, a photographer, a baker, a reporter, a teacher, a behaviour specialist, two nurses, an astronomer, an artist / teacher, a landscaper/carpenter, and a mediator.

Site Acquired

Construction

Occupied

No Vacancies

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Earthsong Eco-Neighbour-hood

Developer — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 21:56:01 +0000

Ranui, Auckland

Our country’s first completed cohousing development, West Auckland based Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood is increasingly inspiring others to develop new contemporary cohos.

Earthsong’s founders were committed from the beginning, in 1995, to building a neighbourhood that was as socially and environmentally sustainable as possible, and to sustain an educative role in nurturing cohousing in Aotearoa.

The site layout is designed to work in with the existing landform, vegetation, and climate to create a beautiful and flourishing ecosystem, and to encourage a sense of community while safeguarding privacy and autonomy.

All homes at Earthsong are oriented north and use passive solar design. Building materials and components fulfil sustainable architecture criteria, considering embodied energy, toxicity, environmental impact, durability and recyclability.

The services harvest the natural resources of sun and rain to reduce reliance on bulk supply and to reduce waste shipped off-site.

The physical design of systems not only reduces environmental impact, but adds to quality of life and a flourishing eco-system

Education and Consultancy

Community building resources and documented experience is publically available.

The Earthsong Centre Trust oversees the educational outreach, including tours and presentations run by the Earthsong Education Collective, and seminars on cohousing, permaculture, eco-design and community organisational structure. Workshops can be tailored, ranging from tools for group effectiveness and community governance, to collaborative design, project planning and development issues.

Professional consultancy and facilitation for intentional community projects is also available on request.