Creating a Life Together

Informationen zum Autor Diana Leafe Christian is the author of Creating a Life Together and editor Communities magazine. She lives at Earthhaven Ecovillage in North Carolina. Klappentext Everything you need to know to create and manage an intentional community from scratch. Everything you need to know to create an intentional community from scratch Zusammenfassung Everything you need to know to create and manage an intentional community from scratch. Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgments Foreword By Patch Adams INTRODUCTION: CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER The Successful Ten Percent What Are Intentional Communities and Ecovillages? Cohousing Communities Why Now? What You'll Learn Here Is this Information Really Necessary? Is this Advice "Corporate"? How to Use this Book PART ONE: PLANTING THE SEEDS OF HEALTHY COMMUNITY CHAPTER 1: THE SUCCESSFUL TEN PERCENT AND WHY NINETY PERCENT FAIL Lost Valley How One Group Did It What Works,What Doesn't Work? The Successful Ten Percent Why Ninety Percent Fail "Structural Conflict" And Six Ways to Reduce It What Will it Cost? How Long Does it Take? How Many People do You Need? CHAPTER 2: YOUR ROLE AS FOUNDER What Kind of Person Founds a Community? What Else You'll Need "If Only I Had Known!" CHAPTER 3: GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START Don't Run Out and Buy Land Yet When You Already Own the Property Organizing Your Group Getting Real about Finances Collecting Funds Raising Money from Suppporters Attracting and Integrating New Members Creating "Community Glue" Pioneers, Settlers, and the Flow of Members CHAPTER 4: COMMUNITY VISION WHAT IT IS,WHY YOU NEED IT Sound a Clear Note Elements of a Community's Vision Your Vision Documents and Vision Statements Do it First CHAPTER 5: CREATING VISION DOCUMENTS More Than One Vision? A Sacred Time "That's Not Community!" Hidden Expectations and Structural Conflict Exploring the Territory Sharing from the Heart Writing it Down CHAPTER 6: POWER, DECISION-MAKING, AND GOVERNANCE Power The Ability to Influence Focused Power,Widespread Power How Consensus Works What You Need to Make Consensus Work "Pseudoconsensus" and Structural Conflict Agreement Seeking When You Don't Want to use Full Consensus Multi-winner Voting Community Governance Spreading Power Widely More than One Form of Decision Making? What Decision-making Method Should You Use? PART TWO: SPROUTING NEW COMMUNITY: TECHNIQUES & TOOLS CHAPTER 7: AGREEMENTS & POLICIES: "GOOD DOCUMENTS MAKE GOOD FRIENDS" Remembering Things Differently Giving Yourselves Every Chance of Success Your Community's Agreements and Policies Abundant Dawn's Agreements CHAPTER 8:MAKING IT REAL: ESTABLISHING YOUR LEGAL ENTITY Why You Need a Legal Entity Before Buying Your Property Using a Lawyer Finding the Right Lawyer CHAPTER 9: THE GREAT LAND-BUYING ADVENTURE Legal Barriers to Sustainable Development Shopping for Counties Zoning Regulations, Building Codes, Sustainable Homesteads, and Jobs The Proactive Land Search Friendly Loans from Friends and Family Onerous Owner-financing (Better than None at All) Do-it-Yourself Refinancing with a "Shoe Box Bank" When One Person Buys the Property Acquiring Fully Developed "Turn Key" Property Confidence, Persistence, and Negotiation If at First You Don't Succeed CHAPTER 10: FINDING THE RIGHT PRO...

Vorwort

Everything you need to know to create an intentional community from scratch

Autorentext

Diana Leafe Christian is the author of Creating a Life Together and editor Communities magazine. She lives at Earthhaven Ecovillage in North Carolina.

Klappentext

Everything you need to know to create and manage an intentional community from scratch.

Zusammenfassung

Everything you need to know to create an intentional community from scratch

An intentional community is a group of people who have chosen to live or work together in pursuit of a common ideal or vision. An ecovillage is a village-scale intentional community that intends to create, ecological, social, economic, and spiritual sustainability over several generations.

The 90s saw a revitalized surge of interest in intentional communities and ecovillages in North America: the number of intentional communities listed in the Communities Directory increased 60 percent between 1990 and 1995. But only 10 percent of the actual number of forming-community groups actually succeeded. Ninety percent failed, often in conflict and heartbreak. After visiting and interviewing founders of dozens of successful and failed communities, along with her own forming-community experiences, the author concluded that "the successful 10 percent" had all done the same five or six things right, and "the unsuccessful 90 percent" had made the same handful of mistakes. Recognizing that a wealth of wisdom were contained in these experiences, she set out to distill and capture them in one place.

Creating a Life Together is the only resource available that provides step-by-step, practical "how-to" information on how to launch and sustain a successful ecovillage or intentional community. Through anecdotes, stories, and cautionary tales about real communities, and by profiling seven successful communities in depth, the book examines "the successful 10 percent" and why 90 percent fail; the role of community founders; getting a group off to a good start; vision and vision documents; decision-making and governance; agreements; legal options; finding, financing, and developing land; structuring a community economy; selecting new members; and communication, process, and dealing well with conflict. Sample vision documents, community agreements, and visioning exercises are included, along with abundant resources for learning more.

Inhalt

Acknowledgments
Foreword By Patch Adams

INTRODUCTION: CREATING A LIFE TOGETHER
The Successful Ten Percent
What Are Intentional Communities and Ecovillages?
Cohousing Communities
Why Now?
What You'll Learn Here
Is this Information Really Necessary?
Is this Advice "Corporate"?
How to Use this Book

*PART ONE: PLANTING THE SEEDS OF HEALTHY COMMUNITY
*

**CHAPTER 1: THE SUCCESSFUL TEN PERCENT AND WHY NINETY PERCENT FAIL
Lost Valley How One Group Did It
What Works,What Doesn't Work?
The Successful Ten Percent
Why Ninety Percent Fail
"Structural Conflict" And Six Ways to Reduce It
What Will it Cost?
How Long Does it Take?
How Many People do You Need?

CHAPTER 2: YOUR ROLE AS FOUNDER
What Kind of Person Founds a Community?
What Else You'll Need
"If Only I Had Known!"

CHAPTER 3: GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START
Don't Run Out and Buy Land Yet
When You Already Own the Property
Organizing Your Group
Getting Real about Finances
Collecting Funds
Raising Money from Suppporters
Attracting and Integrating New Members
Creating "Community Glue"
Pioneers, Settlers, and the Flow of Members

CHAPTER 4: COMMUNITY VISION WHAT IT IS,WHY YOU NEED IT
Sound a Clear Note
Elements of a Community's Vision
Your Vision Documents and Vision Statements
Do it First

CHAPTER 5: CREATING VISION DOCUMENTS
More Than One Vision?
A Sacred Time
"That's Not Community!" Hidden Expectations and Structural Conflict
Exploring the Territory
Sharing from the Heart
Writing it Down

CHAPTER 6: POWER, DECISION-MAKING, AND GOVERNANCE
Power The Ability to Influence
Focused Power,Widespread Power
How Consensus Works
What You Need to Make Consensus Work
"Pseudoconsensus" and Structural Conflict
Agreement Seeking When You Don't Want to use Full Consensus
Multi-winner Voting
Community Governance Spreading Power Widely
More than One Form of Decision Making?
What Decision-making Method Should You Use?

**PART TWO: SPROUTING NEW COMMUNITY: TECHN…