Self Sufficient Communities

 

Our physical connections may have become limited but we take this pause to feel gratitude to the communities we exist in. 

We as a studio look to self-sufficient communities as a source of stimulation and inspiration of alternative ways to live, with the notion of preserving environmental and ecological systems. They focus on their immediate environment, urban infrastructure and social equity without diminishing the land, air and the natural and cultural resources that support them. Empowering the individuals who make up these systems ensure local skills, values and diversity are retained.

As much as our physical environment effects our way of life, our human support system is also fundamental in harnessing positive energy. From manifesting this elevated vibration in ourselves leads us to a more contented being. These aspects combined are attributes that make up some of the successful self-sufficient communities that inhabit our earth.

We pause for a moment to look at traditional tribal communities and innovative communities moving with modern day ideologies.

The Enawenê-nawê 

For many of us, complete isolation is a daunting prospect, especially when we are so accustomed to having access to almost everything with just a click of a button. 

Tribes like The Enawanê-nawê have survived for thousands of years in complete solitude from all that exists outside of themselves and their immediate environment. Inhabited in a transition zone between the Cerrado and tropical rainforest in Brazil, the village is circular in shape and formed by rectangular communal houses. These are made from raw materials that are in abundance and native to their environment: tree trunks, vine and moriche palm straw. Human connection is woven into the fabric of this community, with the central clearing used to congregate and perform daily rituals. Water is sourced from small creeks located near to the village and small areas cleared for cultivation by slashing and burning vegetation in the nearby forest. 

The ReGen Village 

The off-grid neighbourhood in the Netherlands, is conceptualised upon five “pillars”: energy-positive homes, high-yield organic food production, mixed renewable energy and storage, water and waste recycling, and empowerment of local communities. Designed by the Danish architects, EKKEKT, “ReGen” relies on the non-destructive use of the most modern technologies to create a cluster of homes in a closed-loop system, spanning across 15,450sq m of land. The name “ReGen” quite literally stands for “regenerative”, referencing the intention to use the outputs of one system as the inputs to another.

In our overstimulated lives, there is a longing to reconnect with each other and the land. The idea of knowing where our food comes from and spending more quality time with our loved ones is obtainable, exemplified in the “ReGen” project, if we are to re-think the way we are living. 

Support is a precious commodity, it is too ‘bear all or part of the weight of’, a practice which gives reason to why these types of tribes have not dispelled. Their loyalty to one another and to their eco-systems has lead them to be able to live in complete solitude, relying solely on each other to survive. 

 
Louisa Grey